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casino game 2024 TORONTO - Hannah Miller scored a power-play goal with 1:38 remaining in the game, lifting the Toronto Sceptres to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Fleet in the Professional Women’s Hockey League season opener on Saturday. With Boston standout Hilary Knight in the penalty box for a vicious boarding penalty on Sceptres defender Renata Fast, Miller made good on her rebound attempt on a Daryl Watts shot with a half-open net. Fast recovered for an assist on the winner before 8,089 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Fleet (0-1-0) challenged the goal, but video review deemed Miller’s shot was good. Sarah Nurse got Toronto (1-0-0) on the board with a short-handed tally 11:50 into the first period and Emma Maltais added an empty-net strike to seal the score at 3-1 with 12 seconds left on the game clock. Boston’s Hilary Knight opened the scoring at the 3:00 mark of the opening frame, sending a slap shot past Toronto goalie Kristin Campbell, who registered 18 stops on the night. Toronto outshot Boston 41-19. Boston goalie Aerin Frankel, a big reason why her team advanced to the Walter Cup final last spring, was outstanding with 38 saves. Frankel made a significant glove-hand stop on Toronto defender Jocelyne Larocque with 6:36 remaining in the third period. Larocque was alone when a rebound caromed to her in front. But the puck was rolling, and she could only lift her shot straight into Frankel’s glove. Nurse’s goal tested the league’s new jailbreak rule that sees a minor penalty — in this case, Izzy Daniel’s tripping infraction — wiped out when a team scores a short-handed goal. . Takeaways Sceptres: Billie Jean King MVP Natalie Spooner missed the season opener. The PWHL scoring champion underwent left knee surgery last June after getting injured in Game 3 of Toronto’s first-round series against Minnesota. Fleet: Defender Emma Greco of Burlington, Ont., played her first game for Boston. She was part of the Walter Cup-winning Minnesota team that defeated Boston in a three-game series last spring. Greco is one of five Ontario-born players on the Fleet roster. Key moment With the game tied 1-1, the Sceptres failed to score during a 59-second 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second period. Boston blocked five shots during the span. Key stat Last year, Toronto enjoyed an 11-game win streak en route to its regular-season championship, including three wins against Boston. Up next Toronto visits Ottawa on Tuesday. Boston will play its home opener on Wednesday, a rematch with the Walter Cup-champion Minnesota. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2024.Keir Starmer’s big idea? Put more police back on the beat1,894 Shares in NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA) Acquired by Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC

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Special counsel moves to dismiss election interference and classified documents cases against Trump

No. 21 Creighton's Steven Ashworth doubtful for Players Era Festival opener against AztecsFour brothers run JB workshop started by their father and use hand-me-down equipment SHAHIDAHYU Bakri did not expect that her bad reaction to coffee while pregnant about 11 years ago would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. She had been working at a coffee factory in Johor Baru for a few years before being pregnant with her first child. “I experienced bad reactions to the smell of coffee and had to quit my job as the dizzy spells and nausea were too much for me to handle. ALSO READ: Entrepreneur’s museum shares lore on gold ore “I had no choice but to look for work elsewhere to help my husband, as we were about to start a family. “That was when I saw an advertisement on job vacancy at a jewellery workshop and decided to give it a try despite having no prior experience in the field,” Shahidahyu told StarMetro. The job involved producing handmade gold jewellery, which required her to handle tools such as pliers, tweezers, chisels and files. Shahidahyu inspecting various tiny parts before assembling them into gold jewellery. “Besides rings, my boss, who is also my mentor, taught me how to make movable fish pendants. “The pendant consists of several different parts assembled together to make it move as if it was swimming. “I never expected that I would one day become a goldsmith. “I like the fact that I get to learn new skills,” she said. She added that through her job, she has learnt about Chinese culture including why dragons and fish are symbols of good fortune in the community. Some of the handcrafted pieces produced at the shop. In turn, she would also share about her own culture with her colleagues. Shahidahyu is one of the oldest-serving employees at the workshop, and she also guides and trains newcomers who join the company. The mother-of-two said she hoped to see more young people joining the industry as they could bring fresh ideas and innovations. The workshop where Shahidahyu works is run by four brothers who took over the business from their late father. All in the family Owner Yuin Foo Seng said the family business was passed down to him about three decades ago. He recalled that he, too, was working in a different field before joining the business. “In my teenage years, I worked at my maternal grandfather’s restaurant. “One day, my father asked me to help out at his jewellery workshop as he was short of workers. And so began my journey in the gold business. “I learned from my father and eventually became a full-fledged goldsmith,” said Foo Seng. (From left) Brothers Foo Seng, Fook Kuan, Fock Heng and Fook Yung at the second-generation goldsmith business. He added that his father first opened a gold jewellery workshop in Penang, relocating several times before settling down in Johor Baru. Foo Seng, who is the eldest sibling, said he first ran the business with one brother, before his two other siblings switched fields to join them. “My brothers Fook Kuan, Fock Heng, Fook Yung and I each take on a different role – from producing gold jewellery to managing our 13 employees and quality control,” Foo Seng said. He recalled the industry’s peak in the 1990s before the 1997 Asian financial crisis. “At that time, we were getting a lot of orders even during non-festive periods. “Our workers had to work overtime and on weekends to cater to the orders. Soh: There is still a market for traditional and handmade gold jewellery. “During Chinese New Year, buyers who are jewellery shop owners would come to our workshop to buy whatever stock we had left. “The demand for gold jewellery is still there but it is lower now. “We also cannot take as many orders, as we have fewer workers now compared to before.” The goldsmith said their products were for local and overseas markets such as Singapore and India. Pick of the bunch Foo Seng said the shop also produced toothpicks and earpicks, which come in a slim container, all made entirely of gold. “It was in great demand back then. Now, I believe we are the only gold workshop that still produces the item upon order. “We make mostly gold pendants with elements such as carp, arowana and dragons that symbolise auspiciousness and good luck in Chinese culture.” Youths, he revealed, were not interested in being goldsmiths as it was labour-intensive. “They are required to sit for long hours and use their hands and eyes. “A lot of skill is required to produce jewellery with intricate details. Cheng: Young people are influenced by luxury brands and will look for similar gold products. “Previously, we had workers who left after a week as they could not stand the long hours,” he said, adding that his own children had pursued other interests after completing their tertiary education. Foo Seng is grateful that his niece and nephew had joined the family business and learned to become goldsmiths. He admitted that he was concerned about the future of the industry as many jewellery makers had adopted mechanisation. At his workshop, they still use apparatus that used to belong to his father to mould gold into fine wire to produce jewellery. “Our father had always wanted to pass down the craft to his children. He worked until he was 86. “I took over the family business not to become rich but to keep our father’s legacy alive. “We aim to continue offering traditionally-made jewellery pieces as I believe there is still value in them,” said Foo Seng. Updated with tech South Johor Golden Ornaments Trade Association chairman Soh Lip Sim said traditional and handmade gold jewellery still had a market in the 21st century. “Most of the gold jewellery makers in the state are small and medium-sized enterprises, while the major producers are in the Klang Valley and Penang. “There are only about 200 traditional gold jewellery makers left in Johor, which is much fewer than before as many have closed down due to the lack of successors,” he added. Soh said traditional methods might be phased out in the years to come as more jewellery producers move towards mechanisation and modern technology. “With machines, gold jewellery pieces can be made in a shorter period, involve less manpower and offer a huge variety of designs that are lighter in weight. Fine work: Goldsmith Yuin Foo Seng's holding up an intricate handmade gold dragon pendant produced at his family's workshop in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star “This means consumers can purchase jewellery designs at cheaper price because of the weight and they will not be charged a high craftsmanship fee,” he said. Soh said current market trends were for lightweight jewellery pieces as well as trendy items such as the Labubu doll, with K-pop star Lisa’s social media post featuring it sparking mass interest across Asia. “Thanks to technology, gold jewellery such as pendants can weigh as light as 0.2g per piece, making them very affordable for the younger consumer. “People used to think that gold jewellery catered to the more mature market but these days, many young people prefer to buy gold probably because of the wide variety of designs,” said Soh. Sought-after items Cheng Ching Nian, who runs a 98-year-old gold jewellery shop in Pontian, said young customers could easily spend thousands during a visit to his shop. “I think they are influenced by luxury brands as they will usually come looking for similar designs for pendants and bracelet charms. “They spend between RM3,000 and RM5,000 on jewellery each time,” he said, adding that 3D designs featuring cartoon characters were also popular. With Chinese New Year coming at the end of January, Cheng said he was preparing to stock up on designs featuring Chinese zodiac signs. He added that his products were usually sourced from local jewellery makers but trendier designs would come from China and Hong Kong, where modern machines could produce intricate designs at an affordable price. Cheng, who is the shop’s third-generation owner, said it was tough for locals to compete with foreign gold jewellery producers in terms of cost.On the morning after last month’s presidential election, Americans woke up into sharply divided camps of strong emotions. Some felt joy, a giddiness that the nation’s Democratic political elite had been swept away in one giant stroke, by a candidate they deemed a hero. Others awoke to a deep sense of dread, a fear that the nation had just taken a turn that might destroy democracy itself. A lot of other Americans just went about their lives and didn’t really think much about it at all. After more than a year of nonstop campaigning, the American voters have spoken. Donald Trump has won the presidency (though with a popular majority half that of Joe Biden’s four years ago). But what have we really said? Some things seem clear. Huge numbers of working class Americans wanted Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democrats out of power. Despite the hesitations many of them had about Donald Trump’s relentless lies, criminal convictions and instabilities, the hope for lower prices took on a higher priority. As my wife observed afterward, the vote was a giant scream of anger at an economy that is not working for millions of Americans. People are angry about inflation — about high rent, gas and grocery prices. No lofty Democratic arguments about how great the economy is doing were going to convince people otherwise. Many voters are also angry at Democrats for spending their tax money on things like housing immigrants in hotels and doling out billions of dollars to cancel other people’s student loans. The truth about presidential elections in the U.S. is actually pretty simple. Nearly every election for the past century has been a pass-fail exam on how people see their economic lives. If people think times are good, they vote for the party in power. If they think times are bad, the voters boot them out. Last week was no different. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democratic Congresswoman from Washington state, has it right. Before she was elected two years ago, she worked in a family-owned auto repair shop. On Nov. 5, she won a second term in a deeply conservative district. She said afterward, “People are putting their groceries on their credit card. No one is listening to anything else you say if you try to talk them out of their lived experiences with data points from some economists.” There are few forces in a democracy more powerful than public anger channeled in a common direction. Donald Trump made himself the voice of that anger, in both word and style. Kamala Harris and her politics of joy never stood a chance. What is less clear is whether everyone who cast their vote for Donald Trump really supports every part of his plans. A vote for president is like a Thanksgiving dinner. We come for the turkey, the dressing and the mashed potatoes. But we may not care at all for that ambrosia and Jell-O casserole. Americans voted for Donald Trump last week for the main course, his promises to bring economic prosperity and to stop the flow of immigrants into the country. But his political agenda also comes with some huge side dishes that many who voted for him might not like the taste of much at all. I don’t think that the Americans who voted for Trump’s promise to fix inflation also signed on to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and return us to a time when insurance companies could refuse to cover people with pre-existing health conditions. I don’t think that everyone who voted for Trump’s tighter controls at the border are eager for Trump’s big plans to hunt down undocumented immigrants in their workplaces and homes, forcibly deporting millions of people who have been here for years, including mothers and fathers supporting their families and paying taxes. It also seems doubtful that all those Americans who like Trump’s promises to drain the swamp are just fine with his plans to let corporate polluters run wild. Mr. Trump and his blind loyalists will insist that Americans voted for all these things when they voted for him — the whole meal. But there are many who voted for Trump who aren’t going to like all the trimmings. For those readers who woke up Nov. 6 with a feeling of dread, I understand that. My advice is move through it as quickly as you can, to a place of determination. We have a lot of work to do, as American citizens, to prevent the worst of what might be ahead. Americans did vote for Donald Trump to be president. But they did not vote to give him a blank check to now do whatever he pleases. Jim Shultz is the founder and executive director of the Democracy Center and an occasional CNHI columnist. Reach him at jimshultzthewriter@gmail.com .

Catholic priest raises alarm over deteriorating inter-tribal relations in TarabaDonald Trump's Jan. 6 'Jail' Warning Sparks Alarm From CriticsWASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors moved Monday to dismiss the criminal charges against President-elect Donald Trump that accused him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election and to abandon the classified documents case against him, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. The decision by special counsel Jack Smith, who had fiercely sought to hold Trump criminally accountable for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, represented the end of the federal effort against the former president following his election victory this month despite the election-related cases and multiple other unrelated criminal charges against him and is headed back to the White House. FILE - Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) The decision, revealed in court filings, also amounts to a predictable but nonetheless stunning conclusion to criminal cases that had been seen as the most perilous of the multiple legal threats Trump has faced. It reflects the practical consequences of Trump’s victory, ensuring he enters office free from scrutiny over his hoarding of top secret documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Smith’s team emphasized that the move to abandon the prosecutions, in federal courts in Washington and Florida, was not a reflection of their view on the merits of the cases but rather a reflection of their commitment to longstanding department policy. “That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the prosecutors wrote in Monday’s court filing in the election interference case. The decision was expected after Smith's team began assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be tried in accordance with longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted. Trump has cast both cases as politically motivated, and had vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January. President-elect Donald Trump arrives before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP) The 2020 election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing the Republican as he vied to reclaim the White House. But it quickly stalled amid legal fighting over Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House. The U.S. Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial. The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election. Smith’s team in October filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence they planned to use against him at trial, accusing him of using “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will of voters after he lost to Biden. ___ Among President-elect Donald Trump's picks are Susie Wiles for chief of staff, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, former Democratic House member Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Susie Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Trump named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, making a former sharp critic his choice to be the new administration's top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator called a “con man" during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump's plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration. She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him. Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog, to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. The governor of North Dakota, who was once little-known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump, and spent months traveling to drum up support for him, after dropping out of the race. Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump made the announcement about Burgum joining his incoming administration while addressing a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club, and said a formal statement would be coming the following day. In comments to reporters before Trump took the stage, Burgum said that, in recent years, the power grid is deteriorating in many parts of the country, which he said could raise national security concerns but also drive up prices enough to increase inflation. “There's just a sense of urgency, and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration,” Burgum said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president as a Democrat, than as an independent, and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign. The nomination of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction. He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then. Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment. Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Sean Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Write is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Wright also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. Wright also won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. President-elect Donald Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Trump promised to dismantle. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Brooke Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency. The 52-year-old is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. She previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary, a position in which he'd have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. Doug Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate. Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement about nominating Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Karoline Leavitt, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term before she became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by Trump to be director of national intelligence, keeping with the trend to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities rather than veteran professionals in their requisite fields. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party's 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency . Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referring to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign his administration would “Drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.” Trump has named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband. Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission. Carr made past appearances on “Fox News Channel," including when he decried Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' pre-Election Day appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” He wrote an op-ed last month defending a satellite company owned by Trump supporter Elon Musk. Rep. Elise Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. President-elect Donald Trump says he's chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO. Trump has expressed skepticism about the Western military alliance for years. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Whitaker is “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.” The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy. Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Trump asked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Thomas Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for his defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Dr. Mehmet Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime television talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz's bid for elected office. Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trump on Tuesday said Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added the move would shock government systems. It's not clear how the organization will operate. Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. Trump said the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Russell Vought held the position during Trump’s first presidency. After Trump’s initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Scavino, whom Trump's transition referred to in a statement as one of “Trump's longest serving and most trusted aides,” was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, as well as his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino had run Trump's social media profile in the White House during his first administration. He was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 after a month-long refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Blair was political director for Trump's 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump's economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign this year, a driving force behind the candidate's “Trump can fix it” slogan and his query to audiences this fall if they were better off than four years ago. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump's 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Budowich also had served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency. McGinley was White House Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration, and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. In a statement, Trump called McGinley “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda, while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement.” Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this story. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

NASCAR CUP SERIESBALTIMORE — It was an unseasonably warm evening for Nov. 7 in Baltimore, where the temperature at M&T Bank Stadium lingered around a comfortable 65 degrees for the Ravens’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals. By the end of the night, it would in some ways be much hotter. Baltimore won a thriller, 35-34, but Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow torched the Ravens’ ragged secondary for 428 yards and four touchdowns. Cincinnati wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase gallivanted unbothered for 264 of them and three scores on 11 catches. Afterward, Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who turned the game around with a strip of running back Chase Brown that linebacker Roquan Smith recovered, said the team was going to enjoy the victory, but when he was asked about Chase’s performance a pique washed over his expression, eliciting an unusually long 436-word response. “I just don’t think (with us) playing like this we can go far,” he said in part. “The way we’re playing. ... Something has got to change.” In a film session amongst players the following week, it did. “The message kind of became a little bit clear: If you want to play ball, then we’ll get you out there, but if you don’t, you’re going to have to sit on the sidelines,” Humphrey said earlier this week. “I think guys responded really well to what was being preached amongst the coaches, amongst the players, and we’re holding guys more accountable now. “The brand (of defense) we were playing, it’s disrespectful to be in this Ravens uniform and play like that, and I feel like we’ve turned that corner. It’s not perfect. I still think there are more corners to turn. But the mindset has really changed, the mindset has really, really changed, and that’s kind of where it starts.” Since that victory over the Bengals, the Ravens are just 1-2, with close losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles and a convincing win over the Los Angeles Chargers. But the defense – finally – has not been the culprit, and if anything has stood out while the offense has sputtered. That’s encouraging, especially considering how bad things were the first two-plus months of the season. Over its first 10 games, Baltimore allowed an average of 25.3 points and 367.9 yards per game, a steep and shocking increase from just a season ago, when then the Ravens led the NFL in points (16.5) and were sixth in yards (301.4) allowed per game. But over their past three games, they’ve perhaps turned the corner with those numbers (21.7 points, 280 yards allowed per game) falling sharply for first-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr. A big part of that turnaround is the cutting down of explosive plays the defense routinely gave up earlier in the year. In the Ravens’ first eight games, they allowed 39 completions of 20-plus yards. Over their past five games, they’ve given up just 11, including none last week against the Eagles. “I think it’s a little bit more of continuity with the guys that we’re playing with,” pass game coordinator Chris Hewitt said Tuesday. Part of that continuity came via addition by subtraction – notably benching struggling safety Marcus Williams three games ago and replacing him with Ar’Darius Washington as well as parting ways with veteran safety Eddie Jackson. With Washington now starting alongside do-everything All-Pro Kyle Hamilton, the difference has been noticeable. “They’ve just been playing a little bit better,” Orr said. “It’s no indictment to Marcus. It’s just a production business, and those guys have been more productive.” Which is sort of an indictment of Williams, who coming into the season was thought to be half of perhaps the best safety duo in the league. That, of course, has not been the case for the former New Orleans Saints star. But those were hardly the only changes. In addition to starting Washington – undersized at 5-foot-8, 180 pounds but someone who coaches note has been aggressive to the ball with good range and communication – Baltimore has deployed Hamilton deeper on the field more often, thus helping shut down big plays on the back end. Elsewhere, Humphrey has been invaluable out wide and in the slot, has performed well against the pass and the run and has a career-high five interceptions. Others, like speedy rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins and recently acquired veteran corner Tre’Davious White, have also contributed to a defense that is utilizing fewer three-safety looks than in the past and has simplified some of its packages and calls. The middle of the field has been tightened up, too, with a significant increase in snaps for inside linebackers Chris Board (who played more than starter Trenton Simpson last week) and Malik Harrison alongside All-Pro Roquan Smith. “All the different guys next to Ro offer different abilities and different strengths,” Orr said. “We just need production out of that position overall – (at) linebacker – and specifically, the WILL and DIME position, and I think the best way for us to get that production is to rotate those guys in there.” It has paid off. Two weeks ago, Harrison had his best game in his five years with the Ravens, racking up 12 tackles, including one for loss, against the Chargers. Versus the Steelers, Smith led the way with 13 tackles and had his best performance against the pass this year. And last week against the Eagles, Board had a season-high seven tackles, which was three more than Simpson. Unsurprisingly, all three teams did not move the ball with the same ease as the Bengals and many of the Ravens’ other opponents earlier in the year. After Cincinnati shredded Baltimore last month, the Steelers managed just 303 total yards, the Chargers 285 and the Eagles 252. All three averaged 4.8 yards per play or less, compared with the 5.9 or more that six of the Ravens’ first 10 opponents managed. Since that win over the Bengals and the meeting that followed, the Ravens’ defense has given up just four touchdowns in the span of three games, which is about as sound as it gets when it comes to trying to win games and ultimately reach the Super Bowl. As Humphrey said, it’s not perfect but much has changed. “The meeting definitely had an impact, just because we had to do some deep soul searching, and it was a long meeting,” Orr said. “I think it was good – from a player and coach standpoint – that we expressed what we wanted to get done, they expressed how they felt, and we were able to come together and figure out solutions, because that’s all we’re about. “Obviously we tweaked some stuff with personnel, with scheme and communication, but I still think there’s a whole other level we can get to.”New World Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NVIDIA Co. ( NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report ) by 21.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,290 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares during the quarter. NVIDIA makes up about 0.2% of New World Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. New World Advisors LLC’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in NVIDIA in the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. boosted its position in NVIDIA by 3.3% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 75,062 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $9,115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,419 shares in the last quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 125.1% in the third quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. now owns 16,170 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $1,964,000 after buying an additional 8,988 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of NVIDIA by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 446,461 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $54,218,000 after buying an additional 50,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellis Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in NVIDIA by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 9,173 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. 65.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. NVIDIA Stock Down 1.8 % Shares of NVIDIA stock opened at $142.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 56.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.63. NVIDIA Co. has a 1-year low of $45.60 and a 1-year high of $152.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $138.16 and a 200-day moving average of $125.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.64. NVIDIA declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer hardware maker to buy up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued. NVIDIA Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 1.57%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, Director John Dabiri sold 716 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total value of $101,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,831,764. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link . Also, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 155,000 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.27, for a total value of $20,501,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,100,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,071,402,475.59. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,796,986 shares of company stock worth $214,418,399. Corporate insiders own 4.23% of the company’s stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have issued reports on NVDA shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of NVIDIA from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC increased their price target on NVIDIA from $145.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on NVIDIA from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on NVIDIA from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on NVIDIA from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.15. Read Our Latest Analysis on NVDA NVIDIA Company Profile ( Free Report ) NVIDIA Corporation provides graphics and compute and networking solutions in the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The Graphics segment offers GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streaming service and related infrastructure, and solutions for gaming platforms; Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics; virtual GPU or vGPU software for cloud-based visual and virtual computing; automotive platforms for infotainment systems; and Omniverse software for building and operating metaverse and 3D internet applications. Read More Five stocks we like better than NVIDIA How to Choose Top Rated Stocks Fast-Growing Companies That Are Still Undervalued Earnings Per Share Calculator: How to Calculate EPS Top Cybersecurity Stock Picks for 2025 2 Rising CRM Platform Stocks That Can Surge Higher in 2025 Archer or Joby: Which Aviation Company Might Rise Fastest? Receive News & Ratings for NVIDIA Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NVIDIA and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .TORONTO (AP) — Hannah Miller scored a power-play goal with 1:38 remaining in the game, lifting the Toronto Sceptres to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Fleet in the Professional Women’s Hockey League season opener on Saturday. With Boston standout Hilary Knight in the penalty box for a vicious boarding penalty on Sceptres defender Renata Fast, Miller made good on her rebound attempt on a shot by Daryl Watts with a half-open net. Fast recovered for an assist on the winner before 8,089 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Fleet challenged the goal, but video review deemed Miller’s shot was good. Sarah Nurse got Toronto on the board with a short-handed tally 11:50 into the first period and Emma Maltais added an empty-net strike with 12 seconds left. Boston’s Hilary Knight opened the scoring 3 minutes in, sending a slap shot past Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell, who registered 18 stops on the night. Toronto outshot Boston 41-19. Boston goalie Aerin Frankel, a big reason why her team advanced to the Walter Cup final last spring, had 38 saves. Sceptres: Billie Jean King MVP Natalie Spooner missed the season opener. The PWHL scoring champion underwent left knee surgery in June after getting injured in Game 3 of Toronto’s first-round series against Minnesota. Fleet: Defender Emma Greco played her first game for Boston. She was part of the Walter Cup-winning Minnesota team that defeated Boston in a three-game series last spring. With the game tied 1-1, the Sceptres failed to score during a 59-second 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second period. Boston blocked five shots during the span. Last year, Toronto enjoyed an 11-game win streak en route to its regular-season championship, including three wins against Boston. Boston will play its home opener on Wednesday, a rematch with the Walter Cup-champion Minnesota. Toronto visits Ottawa on Tuesday. AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Suswan, Edeh bag honourary doctorate degrees, to power BSU with 24-hour electricityALIENS might be living among us here on Earth - and they believe they can protect us from a galactic war. Someone who calls themself a "starseed" is a human who believes they were aliens in a past life before arriving on Earth stuck in a human body, and The Sun has learnt all about them. Experts told The Sun that some starseeds believe there is currently a war between good and bad aliens in a galaxy unreachable to us. It means some starseeds might align themselves with either the good side or the bad side. The idea was originated by Brad Steiger in his 1976 book Gods of Aquarius. They claim to channel human lifeforms and suffer helplessness and total amnesia concerning their identity, origins and life purpose. It is not known exactly how many people identify as starseeds, because many choose to keep this part of themselves private. Those involved with the world of starseeds explained that they are more likely to relate to something like Star Wars than to real life . Dr Susannah Crockford, an anthropology lecturer at the University of Exeter, said a key reason why people identify as starseeds is because they don't feel like they belong. She told The Sun: "Most of the starseeds I met were very on their own. "Some of them would explicitly say that there was a war between these good and bad aliens, and that they were on the side of the good. "They would relate it to something like Star Wars and say that was in fact real. "Not literally real, but the idea that there are star systems at war with each other. So it gave them a sense of mission and purpose. "There are still bad aliens, often these are called 'Reptilians'. "So there are the bad aliens, and then there are the good aliens. "And most, in fact all of the Starseeds I met said that they were on the side of the good aliens. "They said they came from planets such as Sirius, or Lyra, Pleiades was a common one, Arcturus. "These are quite distant stars from our solar system, we don't really know what's on there, and we have no real knowledge of what these planets are, so you can sort of speculate as to what is there. "They were part of something much more important than what they may be doing in their everyday life. "They actually had something far more exciting going on in their life, which was being a starseed." In some cases, notable influencers in the starseed space have been accused of using their worldview to "brainwash" people. In an article for Vice in 2016, Leigh Alexander recounted her experience with Unicole Unicron, who is the leader of UNICULT. Unicole also runs a TikTok with over 120,000 followers, in which she makes content based around her experiences as an alien. Unicole describes UNICULT as a way to help others see the light after her suicide attempt made her realise that she is the belief that she is an incarnation of a divine being of light helped her heal. She decided to join the group, which required her to give a drop of her blood as part of an initiation. One of the most revealing parts of the article is the internal structure that holds starseeds together, including Unicole, blind faith. Leigh pointed that in Unicole's world, belief is all it takes to make something real. Leigh wrote: "Her music videos only have a few thousand views, a liberal interpretation of pop stardom, but the more I read about UNICULT, the more I realized that that’s kind of the point—belief makes real, Unicole Unicron reminds us. "If she says she is a pop star, she is a pop star." Rolling Stone reported in 2021 that Unicole was allegedly offering members religious exemption from taking the Covid vaccine. The publication labelled her as "anti-vax". In June 2024, Kelly Tyler went on This Morning and claimed that she is a starseed who healed from long term sickness, after she swapped souls with a ‘walk in alien’ when she was just a child. She says she's been able to "astral travel" and can leave her earthly body on command, transporting herself to a galaxy far, far away, where she meets up with blue aliens. Kelly told the programme: "When I was a child I wasn't born as a starseed. I was a very sensitive child... I was quite an ill child, and also the world was too sensitive for me. "I would be at the bottom of my garden, with a bug box looking at stuff rather than interacting with people because it felt too much." She went onto recount how she first came into contact with a spiritual entity, who she calls "Tom". "I developed a relationship, or had contact, with this being from at age of seven at the bottom of my garden. "He appeared as a light and then started to show himself more, and we just used to have this really comforting telepathic relationship. "About a year later I developed whooping cough and I got really really ill, to the fact that I lost all my weight, and the doctors said she's not gonna make it. "At that time, myself and this being exchanged souls. "It's not a possession of somebody taking over, it's a mutual agreement that we decided to exchange souls. "I don't have any real emotional memory of being pre-eight years old, and my personality ,and my physicality changed. "I went from actually being not that clever to being able to do stuff. "I ended up passing an entrance exam for a private school...my social skills improved and I became less shy and introverted. "Lots of significant changes happened, and nobody can really understand why." Dr Susannah went onto add that starseeds are seeking a wider purpose: "They were all motivated by a sense that they were seeking something larger than themselves, some sort of wider mission, something else that would account for these various feelings that they had. "They didn't quite fit in, they weren't really like everyone else. "Partly it was driven by a sense of alienation from their wider culture, that these were people who for various reasons felt like they didn't really fit in with mainstream American culture." But another expert insists that despite starseed's apparent intentions to search for a larger purpose, they have to do this from the shadows. Here's what you need to know... George Lizos, a psychic healer and spiritual teacher, said this group in society are usually "people pleasers". He told The Sun: "They tend to be people pleasers, because the whole collective purpose of star people is to create peace on Earth. "And they are here to bring forth new frequencies, new technologies, new ideas for the purpose of expanding human consciousness, but at the same time to create peace." George, who does not identify as a starseed, added: "They are eager to help in whatever way they can. "That being said, because they are highly sensitive, they are not very comfortable being in the spotlight. They'd much rather work behind the scenes to create powerful change. "They are also very focused on accomplishing tasks and working rather than forming relationships. "On their home planet, they form relationships in different ways, so they are not used to the way we procreate for example. "They may also seem a little bit distant as a result of that. "Once they realise I am here to help, in a conscious way, then that essentially overpowers their anxieties or their feeling of alienation."Savion Williams rushed for two touchdowns and Josh Hoover threw for 252 yards as TCU pulled away from Arizona in the second half, winning 49-28 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Horned Frogs (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions, starting late in the first half after the Wildcats (4-7, 2-6) pulled within 14-13. Williams carried nine times for 80 yards, scoring on runs of 1 and 20 yards in the first half. Hoover completed 19 of 26 passes, with one touchdown and one interception, before being pulled midway through the fourth quarter when the Frogs were up by 21. TCU took control after leading 21-13 at halftime, going up 35-13 on a 38-yard reception to JP Richardson midway through the third. Arizona kept its hopes alive, ending a 15-play, 75-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hunter on fourth down on the first play of the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion made it 35-21. But the Horned Frogs responded with another TD drive, capped by a 6-yard run by Cam Cook for a 42-21 advantage. Arizona added a 70-yard fumble return touchdown with one minute to go for the game's final score. Tetairoa McMillan caught nine passes for 115 yards to become the Arizona career leader in receiving yardage with 3,355. He surpassed his receivers coach, Bobby Wade (3,351), at the top spot. The Wildcats' Noah Fifita completed 29 of 44 passes for 284 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, which happened on the game's first snap. TCU promptly scored on a 4-yard run by Trent Battle, and Williams added a 1-yard TD run late in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead. But the Wildcats fought back, getting a 17-yard touchdown reception by Hunter and field goals of 53 and 43 yards from Tyler Loop to climb within 14-13 with 1:55 go before halftime. That's almost how the half ended, but the Horned Frogs converted third-and-18 on the ensuing drive and then gained 24 yards on third-and-25 to the Arizona 20. That set up a 20-yard run by Williams on fourth-and-1 with 13 seconds left for a 21-13 lead. --Field Level Media