Vandersa: Last year's cerebral hemorrhage was a bit of a shock. I did not expect a robust 52-year-old man like me to experience something like this.(Word count: 468 words)The Dallas Cowboys ruled out right guard Zack Martin and cornerback Trevon Diggs with injuries on Saturday, one day prior to a road game against the Washington Commanders. Martin has been dealing with ankle and shoulder injuries and didn't practice at all this week before initially being listed as doubtful to play on Friday. He also physically struggled during Monday night's loss to the Houston Texans. Martin, who turned 34 on Wednesday, has started all 162 games played in 11 seasons with the Cowboys. He's a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a seven-time first-team All-Pro. Diggs has been dealing with groin and knee injuries. He was listed as questionable on Friday before being downgraded Saturday. Diggs, 26, has 37 tackles and two interceptions in 10 games this season. The two-time Pro Bowl pick led the NFL with 11 picks in 2021 and has 20 in 57 games. The Cowboys elected not to activate receiver Brandin Cooks (knee) for the game. He returned to practice earlier this week and he was listed as questionable on Friday. Dallas activated offensive tackle Chuma Edoga (toe) and defensive end Marshawn Kneeland (knee) off injured reserve Saturday, placed safety Markquese Bell (shoulder) on IR and released defensive end KJ Henry. Tight end Jake Ferguson (concussion) was previously ruled out. Tight end Princeton Fant was elevated from the practice squad to replace him. Cornerback Kemon Hall also was elevated from the practice squad. --Field Level Media
NoneTikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?
Liverpool Football Club is reportedly keeping a close watch on two potential targets, Frlimpong and K77, amidst growing concerns over the possible departures of key players Arnold and Salah. The Reds, who are currently sitting at the top of the Premier League table, are keen on strengthening their squad and have identified these two talents as potential additions to bolster their already impressive roster.
Title: Chairman of Lüde Group Involved in Controversial Photos? Distributors Penalized - Lüde Group Reports and Debunks RumorsFront Range Pharmacy Expands Innovative Services to Enhance Healthcare in Denver
And now, as she stands on the cusp of adolescence, I find myself consumed by a burning desire to uncover the mysteries that lie buried in her past. What secrets does she hold in the depths of her soul? What joys and sorrows have shaped her into the complex and enigmatic being that she is today? What dreams and fears lurk behind her laughter and tears?Learning a new language has never been easier. We rely on technology so much these days, so why not use it to pick up a new skill? If learning a new language has been on your to-do list, this list covers some of the best apps and services to help you get started, whether your desired language is widely spoken or more exotic. Good to know : check out the best free online translation tools to make sense of a foreign language. Price : Free with premium options Platforms : Web , Android , iOS Easily the most popular language-learning app out there, Duolingo has set the tone for many other programs with its exercise-based lessons, light gamification, and freemium learning model. It’s the best place to get started with an online language-learning app, as it’s easy to dive in to see how well it works for you without having to worry about trials or subscriptions. I’ve been using this app for over a year now, and I’ve acquired a pretty large vocabulary so far, just by using the free version. Duolingo has a large selection of languages, ranging from the ever-popular Spanish to the fictional Klingon, and all of the core content is freely accessible. You can also learn two languages at the same time. Although the constant repetition can feel monotonous at times, it remains an effective technique for solidifying what you’ve learned. Duolingo does have a reputation for slightly odd sentences, though, so be prepared to learn phrases like, “The cows enjoy watching funny movies” in Spanish. Price : Free with premium options Platforms : Web , Android , iOS Busuu is an app structured in the same way as Duolingo. It follows the same chapter structure for lessons and includes daily challenges and streaks to keep you engaged. But Busuu has fewer languages and feels a bit more like a traditional language-learning course, putting you through several structured units, with specific grammar and vocabulary focuses. The app’s approach to lessons is very different, however. Each unit includes short videos that allow you to listen to real people speaking the language in natural contexts. Afterward, answer questions to test your understanding of the content. What makes this app particularly valuable for me is its emphasis on speaking practice. You can have live chats with AI about everyday topics, like ordering food or discussing hobbies. With Busuu, you can review errors and strengthen your weaker spots through flash and translation exercises. While the app is mostly free to use, occasional ads may appear to unlock certain features. Premium users gain access to additional perks, such as detailed grammar explanations. Price : Free with premium options Platforms : Web , Android , iOS Another giant in the world of language-learning apps, Memrise takes a similar approach to Busuu, featuring lessons with videos of people actually talking in the language you’re learning. It’s a great way to beef up your vocabulary, learn a new alphabet, or get comfortable using phrases. I’m a big fan of the app’s interface – it’s incredibly user-friendly and has a gamified feel that makes learning enjoyable. It comes with a few unique language options, such as Incelandic, Persian, and Welsh (South). It’s also great for those looking to learn Asian languages, like Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, or Indonesian. With Memrise, you can chat in real time with AI and immerse yourself in life-like conversations and practice scenarios. Paying for a premium account will get you features like chatbots for grammar, role-play, etc., videos, additional exercises, and personalized learning that adapts to your progress. Tip : ever wanted to learn Morse code ? Check these websites that can help you with that. Price : Free with premium options Platforms : Web , Android , iOS Not a fan of exercise-based language apps? Rather than a series of vocabulary and grammar exercises, LingQ is structured around stories and articles that you read and translate at the same time. What I like best about this app is that it asks you about your favorite topics, to serve up stories that you actually want to read. If you don’t know a word when viewing a story, tap it to see the definition and have it added it to your study list. In the Web version, you can install the LingQ extension that can transform any YouTube/Netflix video into a text-based lesson. Although the selection of languages is more limited, it does include some unique options, like Catalan and Cantonese. You can learn multiple languages at the same time, too. The app is free to use just briefly, after which you will have to upgrade to a paid tier to keep using it. Price : Free with premium options Platforms : Android , iOS Beelinguapp shares similarities with LingQ but goes a step further. Its primary focus is on text-based learning, as reading is one of the most effective ways to immerse yourself in a new language. I believe this app is great if you’ve found you made some progress in your learning but are not yet ready to jump into reading full-fledged novels. Beelinguapp offers access to short and long stories, as well as news articles from areas you’re interested in. You have a pretty great selection of topics, too. The app displays both the text in your native language and the language you’re trying to learn. You can have the app read out the text for you and modify the text size or speed to suit your preferences. As you progress through the stories, you’ll have the opportunity to strengthen your understanding with interactive games of vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening. Unsurprisingly, this is a paid app, so if you want to be able to access all its features in full, you’ll need to upgrade. Price : Free with premium features Platforms : Web , Android , iOS Prefer learning with a tutor’s help? Babbel has you covered with its extensive lineup of live classes, led by knowledgeable tutors eager to assist with your questions. While some classes are free, the majority require a premium subscription. The same applies to lessons: after completing the introductory one, you’ll be prompted to upgrade right away. Beyond tutor support, the app boasts a user-friendly interface, opportunities to hone your speaking skills, and access to podcast episodes and audio tracks. Naturally, Babbel includes options for reviewing the material you’ve already covered. If you decide to subscribe, you’ll gain access to some entertaining language games as well. Price : Free with premium options Platforms : Web , Android , iOS LingoPie offers an approach to language learning that you might have used in your youth. I, for example, picked up quite a bit of Italian by watching TV shows and cartoons on Italian channels when I was young. With LingoPie, you can select a language you wish to learn, and start watching videos in that language. Of course, LingoPie puts a few tools at your disposal to facilitate learning, such as subtitles in both your native tongue and the language you’re learning and the ability to slow the video feed down to your level of comprehension. Even better, LingoPie lets you learn through music. The app breaks down songs’ lyrics, helping you finally understand what your favorite artists are singing about. There’s also a kids section. For those who prefer to use LingoPie on PC, you can also install a Chrome extension and access Netflix powered by Lingopie. The app has some features that aren’t accessible in the free version, such as flashcards, and you only get 10 minutes of watch time per day. Tip : take a look at the reasons you need to learn Linux . Price : Free with premium features Platforms : Android , iOS Drops is a unique language-learning app that uses pictograms to introduce new vocabulary. Its gamified design makes it engaging and a great choice for children. Many exercises in Drops involve matching terms to pictograms, but there are also mini-games, like spotting words in a grid of letters. If you’re feeling competitive, the app’s multiplayer feature lets you challenge others learning the same language – a rare option I haven’t seen in other apps. Like the other language apps mentioned here, Drops has a premium tier. Upgrading may be necessary for quicker progress, given the long waits between lessons in the free plan. The paid version also grants access to challenges and comprehensive progress review tools. If you’re comfortable with the languages you know but want to expand your skills in another direction, learn how to cook with these apps . If you want your child to learn something new, programming with Scratch is an interesting option. Image credit: Unsplash . All screenshots by Alexandra Arici. Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.Upon arrival, healthcare providers quickly assessed her condition and diagnosed her with mild botulism poisoning. Prompt action was taken to administer antitoxin and supportive care to counteract the effects of the toxin. Over the course of treatment, the woman gradually showed signs of improvement as the toxin was cleared from her system.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records Friday after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation . The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 123.19 points, or 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8% to set its own record. The quiet trading came after the latest jobs report came in mixed enough to strengthen traders’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again at its next meeting in two weeks. The report showed U.S. employers hired more workers than expected last month, but it also said the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%. “This print doesn’t kill the holiday spirit and the Fed remains on track to deliver a cut in December,” according to Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector investing within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to offer more help for the slowing job market, after bringing inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower interest rates can ease the brakes off the economy, but they can also offer more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts from the Fed have been a major reason the S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times so far this year. And the Fed is part of a global surge: 62 central banks have lowered rates in the past three months, the most since 2020, according to Michael Hartnett and other strategists at Bank of America. Still, the jobs report may have included some notes of caution for Fed officials underneath the surface. Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, pointed to average wages for workers last month, which were a touch stronger than economists expected. While that’s good news for workers who would always like to make more, it could keep upward pressure on inflation. “This report tells the Fed that they still need to be careful as sticky housing/shelter/wage data shows that it won’t be easy to engineer meaningfully lower inflation from here in the nearer term,” Wren said. So, while traders are betting on an 85% probability the Fed will ease its main rate in two weeks, they’re much less certain about how many more cuts it will deliver next year, according to data from CME Group. For now, the hope is that the job market can help U.S. shoppers continue to spend and keep the U.S. economy out of a recession that had earlier seemed inevitable after the Fed began hiking interest rates swiftly to crush inflation. Several retailers offered encouragement after delivering better-than-expected results for the latest quarter. Ulta Beauty rallied 9% after topping expectations for both profit and revenue. The opening of new stores helped boost its revenue, and it raised the bottom end of its forecasted range for sales over this full year. Lululemon stretched 15.9% higher following its own profit report. It said stronger sales outside the United States helped it in particular, and its earnings topped analysts’ expectations. Retailers overall have been offering mixed signals on how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain amid the slowing job market and still-high prices. Target gave a dour forecast for the holiday shopping season, for example, while Walmart gave a much more encouraging outlook. A report on Friday suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers may be improving more than economists expected. The preliminary reading from the University of Michigan’s survey hit its highest level in seven months. The survey found a surge in buying for some products as consumers tried to get ahead of possible increases in price due to higher tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump has threatened. In tech, Hewlett Packard Enterprise jumped 10.6% for one of the S&P 500’s larger gains after reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. Tech stocks were some of the market’s strongest this week, as Salesforce and other big companies talked up how much of a boost they’re getting from the artificial-intelligence boom. All told, the S&P 500 rose 15.16 points to 6,090.27. The Dow dipped 123.19 to 44,642.52, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 159.05 to 19,859.77. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.15% from 4.18% late Thursday. In stock markets abroad, France’s CAC 40 rose 1.3% after French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to stay in office until the end of his term and to name a new prime minister within days. Earlier this week, far-right and left-wing lawmakers approved a no-confidence motion due to budget disputes, forcing Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his cabinet to resign. In Asia, stock indexes were mixed. They rallied 1.6% in Hong Kong and 1% in Shanghai ahead of an annual economic policy meeting scheduled for next week. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.6% as South Korea’s ruling party chief showed support for suspending the constitutional powers of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law and then revoked that earlier this week. Yoon is facing calls to resign and may be impeached. Bitcoin was sitting near $101,500 after briefly bursting above $103,000 to a record the day before. AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Senate Republicans recommended on Friday that the state write laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in high school and college sports, setting the stage for action in the 2025 legislative session. The vote by a committee that was studying the issue is hardly a surprise. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — a possible Republican contender for governor in 2026 — announced almost identical goals at the panel's first meeting in August . It’s an issue that’s already been addressed in Georgia. Legislators in 2022 empowered the Georgia High School Association to regulate transgender students' participation in sports. The association, which regulates sports and activities for all public schools and some private schools, then banned transgender boys and girls from playing on the school sports teams matching their gender identity. Jones and others argue that doesn't go far enough and that lawmakers themselves need to act. It's a sign Republicans believe there is more political gain in fears about transgender women playing women’s sports or using women’s bathrooms. At least 26 mostly Republican states have passed laws or rules to restrict transgender girls from participating high school sports and, in some cases, transgender women from college sports , according to the Movement Advancement Project, a gay rights group. In Georgia, additional action appears more likely now after House Speaker Jon Burns and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans, have voiced support for further legislation. Jeff Graham, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Georgia Equality, said his group is playing defense, concerned about the possibility of other bills that could further restrict gender-affirming care or ban transgender people from using public bathrooms that match their gender identity. “We’re expecting that it’ll be at least what we saw in 2023 and 2024, with the number of bills and more than likely laws,” Graham told reporters Friday. But Burns, from Newington, has said he's not interested in other bills dealing with transgender people besides those dealing with girls' and women's sports. Republican State Sen. Greg Dolezal, of Cumming, who led the Senate study committee, said Friday that he, too, is not interested in a broader bill regulating bathroom usage, although his committee recommended that schools that host sporting events require athletes to use locker rooms based on their assigned sex at birth. Dolezal said senators would seek to write legislation that regulated public schools and colleges, as well as private institutions that compete against public schools and colleges. The committee also recommends that people be able to sue or file grievances if schools break the rules, and that state money be withheld from schools that break the rules. Supporters of more action have focused on the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won the 500-meter freestyle . The NCAA has since revised its policy on transgender women’s participation, saying it will follow the rules of respective athletics federations. World Aquatics, the swimming governing body, banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races. That means Thomas wouldn’t be allowed to swim in NCAA events today. “My basic contention that this is a solution in search of a problem remains,” Graham said. He said he fears that many people who oppose laws that seek to restrict transgender people will be afraid to testify and lobby at the Georgia Capitol, citing assault charges against a man accused of shaking U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in a Capitol office building in Washington, D.C. Dolezal repeatedly tried to turn down the emotional temperature of the issue on Friday. “I think that there’s a group of people that wants to be respected and I think that they deserve respect,” Dolezal told reporters. “But I also think that you can be respectful, but also recognize that in the sporting arena, fairness and competition is important.”