Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter take top spots on Spotify's 2024 Wrapped lists. They got lots of streams locally, toosg7772 。

Sports on TV for Sunday, Dec. 15

Trent Reznor Reveals Exactly Why He Prefers Making Movie Soundtracks To The Music Biz, And He Does Not Hold Back: 'The Culture Of The Music World Sucks'The world stands at the dawn of a “third nuclear age” in which Britain is threatened by multiple dilemmas, the head of the armed forces has warned. But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” The first nuclear age was the Cold War, while the second was “governed by disarmament efforts and counter proliferation”, the armed forces chief said. He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”Vikings place LB Ivan Pace on injured reserve and sign LB Jamin Davis off Packers practice squad

Report: Pittsburgh Steelers expect to play regular season Ireland game in 2025

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, to lead the National Institutes of Health, the nation's leading medical research agency. Trump, in a statement Tuesday evening, said Bhattacharya, a 56-year-old physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, "to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.” “Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease," he wrote. The decision to choose Bhattacharya for the post is yet another reminder of the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic on the politics on public health. Bhattacharya was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns were causing irreparable harm. The document — which came before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and during the first Trump administration — promoted “herd immunity,” the idea that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. Protection should focus instead on people at higher risk, the document said. “I think the lockdowns were the single biggest public health mistake,” Bhattacharya said in March 2021 during a panel discussion convened by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Great Barrington Declaration was embraced by some in the first Trump administration, even as it was widely denounced by disease experts. Then- NIH director Dr. Francis Collins called it dangerous and “not mainstream science.” His nomination would need to be approved by the Senate. Trump on Tuesday also announced that Jim O’Neill, a former HHS official, will serve as deputy secretary of the sprawling agency. Trump said O’Neill “will oversee all operations and improve Management, Transparency, and Accountability to, Make America Healthy Again,” the president-elect announced. O’Neill is the only one of Trump’s health picks so far who brings previous experience working inside the bureaucracy to the job. Trump’s previous choices to lead public health agencies — including Kennedy, Dr. Mehmet Oz for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and Dr. Marty Makary for Food and Drug Administration commissioner — have all been Washington outsiders who are vowing to shake up the agencies. Bhattacharya, who faced restrictions on social media platforms because of his views, was also a plaintiff in Murthy v. Missouri, a Supreme Court case contending that federal officials improperly suppressed conservative views on social media as part of their efforts to combat misinformation. The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in that case. After Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he invited Bhattacharya to the company's headquarters to learn more about how his views had been restricted on the platform, which Musk renamed X. More recently, Bhattacharya has posted on X about scientists leaving the site and joining the alternative site Bluesky, mocking Bluesky as "their own little echo chamber.” Bhattacharya has argued that vaccine mandates that barred unvaccinated people from activities and workplaces undermined Americans' trust in the public health system. He is a former research fellow at the Hoover Institution and an economist at the RAND Corporation. The National Institutes of Health falls under HHS, which Trump has nominated Kennedy to oversee. The NIH's $48 billion budget funds medical research on vaccines, cancer and other diseases through competitive grants to researchers at institutions across the nation. The agency also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at NIH labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Among advances that were supported by NIH money are a medication for opioid addiction, a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, many new cancer drugs and the speedy development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched an awareness campaign "Your Health empowers them " to mark November, recognised globally as Men's Health Awareness Month. The campaign aims to highlight men's health and increase awareness about the most common types of cancer. It includes a series of educational events and activities, such as workshops and awareness lectures, targeting all segments of society. The campaign also includes early screening initiatives to detect these cancers and disseminating awareness messages through media and social media platforms, encouraging men to adopt a healthy lifestyle and regularly visit doctors. Speaking about the most common cancers among men, Dr Mohammed Eltagalawi, a health educator at the Qatar Cancer Society, said prostate cancer is the most common globally, followed by lung cancer and colorectal cancer. In the Middle East and Qatar, however, the common types of cancer may vary due to factors such as lifestyle and genetics. Dr Eltagalawi also emphasised the importance of raising awareness about early detection of urological cancers. Early detection helps identify the first symptoms of the disease, increasing the chances of effective treatment. He added that awareness helps reduce risks by informing people about risk factors such as smoking and poor nutrition and promotes prevention through encouraging regular screenings and a healthy lifestyle. Regarding the rates of urological cancers in Qatar, Dr Eltagalawi explained that prostate cancer is the most common urological cancer according to reports from the Ministry of Public Health and the Qatar National Cancer Registry, followed by bladder and kidney cancers. He also noted that testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young people aged 20 to 35. Early symptoms of urological cancers, he noted, include the presence of blood in the urine, pain in the lower back or sides without an obvious cause, difficulty or frequent urination, and the feeling of not fully emptying the bladder. Symptoms may also include unexplained weight loss or persistent fatigue. There are major risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing urological cancers including smoking, which increases the risk of bladder cancer, a family history of urological cancer, chronic bladder infections, as well as obesity, and an unhealthy lifestyle. Related Story NHRC wraps up 'Healthy Workers for Sustainable Development' campaign MoPH Partakes in World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week

CINCINNATI (AP) — Saturday's wild overtime win over the Denver Broncos was the most important in what has been a mostly disappointing season for the Cincinnati Bengals. Not only did the Bengals (8-8) win their fourth straight for the first time this season and keep their slim playoff hopes alive, but they also finally made enough plays late to win a close game. Seven of their previous eight losses were by one score. And Cincinnati also got a win over one of the league's better teams. Its seven previous victories came against sub-.500 teams. Joe Burrow, in the midst of the best season of his career, threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins with 1:07 left in overtime to win it 30-24. The final drive followed two critical stops by the Cincinnati defense. “We’ve known we had a good football team all along,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “And those (close) games are disappointing that we came up short, but they didn’t change our process. They didn’t change what our guys believed in. We didn’t have to change everything we did. We still believed in what we were doing. And now we’ve won four in a row, and we have to make it five in a row.” The playoffs are still a long shot. To get there, the Bengals will have to go into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers next weekend in the regular-season finale and also count on other bubble teams losing. What's working The Bengals are playing their best football of the season. Burrow, battered by the Denver pass rush, completed nearly 80% of his passes in piling up 412 yards and three touchdowns. It marked his eighth straight game with at least 250 yards and three touchdown passes, extending his NFL record. ... Receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who had nine catches for 102 yards against the Broncos, could finish the season with the receiving triple crown — most catches, yards and touchdowns. What needs help The offensive line continues to struggle, even with the return of starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Burrow rarely had a clean pocket, was constantly on the run and was sacked seven times and hit 15 times. Stock up The Cincinnati defense, much maligned this season, forced two Denver punts in overtime. The second one led to the Bengals' game-winning drive. Linebacker Germaine Pratt intercepted Bo Nix to end a Denver drive in the fourth quarter. “For them to rise up and get those two stops and allow the offense a shot to go win it (is) big-time stuff,” Taylor said. Higgins caught 11 passes for 131 yards and was the recipient of all three of Burrow's touchdown passes. "Everybody can see what kind of player he is," Burrow said of Higgins, who is playing this season with the franchise tag. “He elevates us to a different level when he’s playing like that.” Stock down Kicker Cade York, who was signed in early December to fill in for the injured Evan McPherson, had a chance to win the game with 2:49 left in overtime, but his 33-yard field-goal attempt bounced off the left upright. Injuries RB Chase Brown sprained his ankle in an awkward slide as the Bengals tried to run out the clock in regulation. ... OT Amarius Mims suffered an injury to his right hand. Key number 499 — total yards by the Bengals against Denver. Next steps The Bengals finish the season at Pittsburgh. The Steelers beat them 44-38 on Dec. 1. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Mitch Stacy, The Associated PressIt’s conference championship week in college football, and all nine games are close on paper. My projection model puts all nine title games within five points. So if you’re looking for chaos in the final week before the reveal of the first 12-team bracket, you could be in luck. The Big 12 and ACC championship games are especially close. My model has Clemson by a point against SMU and Arizona State by a point against Iowa State . Clemson beating SMU is one of the most chaotic possible outcomes this weekend. If Clemson wins, Alabama and SMU are likely going to be lobbying for the final spot in the field. Advertisement Texas is favored in the betting odds and in my model against Georgia despite the Bulldogs’ win in Austin earlier this season. Oregon is a bigger favorite (4.5) against Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game. For context on these numbers, the model takes in past performance, returning talent and recruiting rankings. We then compare the model’s projections to the BetMGM lines for extra context. For more on the conference title games, check out my updated CFP projections and CFP stock watch . Below are the projected margins of victory and totals for each conference championship game this week. Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. document.querySelectorAll(".in-content-module[data-module-id='the-pulse-newsletter'] .in-content-module-img img ").forEach((el) => { el.setAttribute("style", "pointer-events: none;");}) Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. College football conference title games: Score projections XMOV is the model’s projected margin of victory for the game with the BetMGM spread as of publish time listed to the right of it. As with betting, favorites are listed with a minus before the predicted spread (i.e. -6.5 or -10), while underdogs are not (8 or 13.5). XTOTAL is the projected combined point total with the BetMGM total (over/under) listed as of publish time to the right of that number. (Photo of Drew Allar and Kaytron Allen: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)I’m A Celebrity stars suffer raging hangovers after boozy party as Danny jokes co-star can join McFly

John Nacion/Getty is opening up about his painful past, as well as his hopes and fears for the future, in a wide-ranging sit-down interview in New York City. On Dec. 4, the Duke of Sussex, 40, stepped out in N.Y.C. to attend the 2024 DealBook Summit organized by . Prince Harry joined Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist and founder of the outlet's DealBook business and policy column, for a conversation on the main stage about disinformation in the media. "I've seen stories written about myself not exactly based in reality." Prince Harry said at the event. "When you grow up with that environment, you find yourself questioning the validity of the information, but also what other people are thinking as well, and how dangerous it can be over the course of time." "I think again, when you are kind of trapped within this bubble, it kind of feels like there's no way out," he added. "What happened to my mom and the fact that I was a kid and felt helpless, there comes the inner turmoil. I felt helpless. One of my biggest weaknesses is feeling helpless." Harry said, "What worried me most was worrying that would happen to me, or to my wife, or to my kids." Eugene Gologursky/Getty Of reading about himself in the press, he told Sorkin, "Throughout my life there would be moments in my life when I read a lot and moments when I read nothing. I highly recommend the latter," he added to laughter from the audience. "Once you stop reading the stuff about yourself, you automatically remove the power from their hands. With that element of fear comes an element of control. and one of the reasons I probably didn't, I guess, remove myself from that situation sooner was that very fear: 'Well, they control the narrative,' whatever I do or say, they can effectively control me and keep me in that space.'" Of his complicated relationship with the press since the death of his mother in 1997 when he was just 12 years old, he said: "I was always convinced I needed to be angry or frustrated towards the press because of what they did to my mom," adding that going to therapy a "blessing," like "cleaning the windshield." He also divulged that to protect his peace, he doesn't have Google alerts on himself and he doesn't have social media. Related: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Of his forthcoming phone hacking case in the U.K., he said, "This claim, the hacking stuff, is almost 15 years old. The coverup of the hacking is relatively new. I think that will be the piece that shocks the world. I scratch my head thinking, 'You know, has this passed?' And certainly that's what they would like to think. In these five years, the retaliation and the intimidation for me as a witness has been extraordinary, especially towards my wife and children." Of the dangers of social media, an issue that has become increasingly important to his work through his and Meghan's Archewell Foundation, he said: "I try to think at these things through the lens as a dad." Eugene Gologursky/Getty "That's one of the reasons we're so focused on The Parents Network," he said, referring to a piece of the work he and Meghan do with their non-profit Archewell for parents whose children's lives have been lost to social media. "It's not a coincidence that the world has become more volatile and more divided since social media has been around for 20 years," Harry added. Harry expressed his desire to collaborate with shareholders of social media companies to discuss better protections for children. “I would welcome the chance to sit down with the shareholders, because their shareholders are the ones that really are in control.” He added, “I’m sure they are parents, and I’m sure hopefully they would agree that kids need to be kept safe.” When asked what he thought of the First Amendment, he said to laughter, "There's no way I'm going to talk about that." Closing out his panel discussion, Sorkin asked Harry what he wants to be known for in 30 years' time, to which Harry replied: "The main goal for me at the moment is being the best husband and the best dad that I can be." "The thing that means the most to me and the things I want to be known for is that no matter what was happening around [is] that he stuck to his values and he always stayed true to that principle," he added. Michael M. Santiago/Getty The 2024 DealBook Summit has a starry lineup, and other mainstage interviews include , , , (a friend of Harry and Meghan's), Open AI co-founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Prince Harry's appearance at the DealBook Summit may be his debut appearance at the event, but he's actually following in his wife's footsteps! Meghan, 43, was by Sorkin as part of DealBook Online Summit in November 2021. The Duchess of Sussex participated in a discussion titled "Minding the Gap" about how women can reach economic and professional parity, where spoke about her view of paid leave as a "humanitarian issue." While Prince Harry is out on the East Coast, Meghan has a glamorous night ahead on the West Coast. The Duchess of Sussex is expected to attend the 2024 Paley Honors Fall Gala tonight in Beverly Hills, where she’ll help honor Perry with The Paley Honors Award, the highest honor from The Paley Center for Media. Kevin Mazur/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were both on the hosting committee for their friend Perry, who is a godfather to their daughter, , 3, and appeared in their 2022 Netflix docuseries, . (Prince Harry and Meghan also share son , 5.) As for Harry's calendar, described the DealBook Summit as a live journalism event which "will feature wide-ranging discussions on the most important stories across business, politics and culture." A previous about Prince Harry's participation listed his roles as the co-founder of the Archewell Foundation and Chief Impact Officer of BetterUp. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched the Archewell charity as a vehicle for their philanthropic work after stepping back from their royal roles and relocating to her home state of California in 2020. He took on the CIO role with BetterUp, a coaching and mental health platform, in 2021. Prince Harry's solo trip to N.Y.C. is his second in two months. In September, the Duke of Sussex spent a few days in New York City for a that a spokesperson said would "advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic initiatives." Riccardo Savi/Getty Harry's busy itinerary included a dinner with the World Health Organization, Concordia Summit panel for The Diana Award (the only charity established in memory of his mother, the late ) and engagements with The HALO Trust (the landmine-clearing charity that Princess Diana famously backed), African Parks and Travalyst. He also spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative about the Archwell Foundation's and the United Nations for an event hosted by Lesotho, where his charity Sentebale works. Christina Williams is a Diana Award recipient who spoke onstage with Prince Harry, and told PEOPLE that his empathy left an impression. "I think my impression of him was that here is someone who is in a high-level role, who really cares about young people — cares about our voices and our actions," Williams, 27, told PEOPLE. "He really cares about the causes that he represents." Read the original article on

By Marissa Dederer More than 500 online courses are available through Thompson Rivers University (TRU)’s Open Learning department. Each course is crafted with care, and just like in Oz, there’s a powerful being behind the curtain making it all happen. Their work, however, isn’t always obvious. “My work is somewhat hidden. It’s not always obvious in the finished course,” says Melissa Jakubec, one of 10 instructional designers. “You have to dig under the surface to see it.” The courses they produce are popular. Last academic year, more than 16,000 Open Learning students enrolled in over 35,000 courses. The subject matter is vast. Students can earn an MBA, get a veterinary technology diploma or learn about celestial bodies. The sky’s the limit. Students go at their own pace Flexibility is the name of the game in Open Learning. While there are a handful of courses and programs that are cohort based, the majority are self-paced. “We’re creating a course so that if the student sits down at 11 o’clock on a Saturday night because that’s the time they have available to finish something, they can do it without having to wait for resources or answers,” says Jakubec. “We try to anticipate their needs.” TRU’s instructional designers work with subject matter experts to develop course material. They also work with members of the larger Open Learning team, including editors, copyright specialists, multi-media developers, e-learning support technicians and more. “It’s part project management, part pedagogical guidance,” she says. Designing with heart In 2018, Jakubec was recognized with a national award for course design innovation . The course, ENGL 3991: Voices of Protest and Rebellion in Contemporary American Literature, was presented on a WordPress website rather than a traditional learning management system, like Moodle. She worked with subject matter expert, the late Dr. Cameron Reid. “Cameron had this idea of doing a course where the students could choose their own adventure,” she says. “We ended up creating a course where the beginning sets the stage and then students are able to choose to do the readings and the assignments in any order they want.” Jakubec continues to look for opportunities to present coursework creatively. “A lot of the job is seeing the potential in a course,” she says. “As I work with a developer, I might review some course material and suggest it would work well as an interactive media piece or that students would benefit from the addition of a short video to explain a challenging concept.” She approaches her work while keeping student care front of mind. Care is one of the Instructional Design team’s shared core values, along with connection, openness and active learning. These are articulated in their learning design framework . That means using materials that are accessible to students, both in cost and content. Jakubec and other instructional designers strive to incorporate and create open educational resources (OER) whenever possible. German 1111 , for example, was developed as an OER. Students work through the lessons on the website and complete their assessments in Moodle. Student care is also evident in ensuring accessibility: videos are captioned, images have alternate text and colour contrast is carefully considered. Students are given clear expectations to guide their learning. Educational excellence through innovation These principles of design have served Jakubec well. She’s designed more than 100 courses for Open Learning and is exploring topics of engagement and care in open entry courses in her studies in the Doctor of Education in Learning Sciences program at the University of Calgary. Innovation at TRU will continue as a demand for flexible learning opportunities keeps instructional designers busy.

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