BEIRUT — Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the militant group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. An Israeli bomb squad policeman carries the remains of a rocket that was fired from Lebanon on Sunday in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the militants. Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups. The Israeli police bomb squad inspects the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area Sunday in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there. In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing. The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors. Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later. Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. A flock of birds flies above the smoke from Israeli airstrikes Sunday in Dahiyeh, Beirut. Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence. Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north. The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to the Lebanese c... The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week. Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group. Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate $208 million to assist the Lebanese military. But Borrell later said that he did not “see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire" and that it seemed Israel was seeking new conditions. He pointed to Israel’s refusal to accept France as a member of the international committee that would oversee the cease-fire's implementation. The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers. With talks for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza stalled, freed hostages and families of those held marked a year since the war's only hostage-release deal. “It’s hard to hold on to hope, certainly after so long and as another winter is about to begin," said Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, who is held along with her husband and two young sons. Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Most of the rest of the 250 who were abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack were released in last year's cease-fire. Talks for another deal recently had several setbacks, including the firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation. Hamas wants Israel to end the war and withdraw all troops from Gaza. Israel has offered only to pause its offensive. The Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 44,000 this week, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. On Sunday, six people were killed in strikes in central Gaza, according to AP journalists at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. How often do you buy something online ? A couple of times a month? A couple of times a week? A couple of times a day? Everybody's answer will be different, but collectively, it's done a lot: Online retail accounted for over $1 trillion of purchases in the U.S. in 2022 and a record $277.6 billion in the second quarter of 2023 alone. Retailers ranging from titans like Amazon and Walmart, down to local small-town shops work very hard to land their share of that business. Sadly and inevitably—so do criminals and scammers. At any given moment, they operate millions of bogus sites. So how can you spot those fake online shopping sites? Spokeo provides a guide. In the early days of the internet , it took some genuine skills to set up a website, but those days are gone. A quick search will show that there are lots of apps and services offering websites on a prefabricated "fill in the blanks" basis, and most web hosts provide those tools as part of the service when someone signs up with them. It's even easier on social media . If you were opening a "side hustle" business tomorrow from your home, you could set up your own Facebook page tonight in under an hour, with exactly zero knowledge of websites. Once that page is set up, you just need to throw a few dollars in the direction of Facebook's advertising department, and they'll start advertising your page to users. It's no harder to promote a website, except in that case, you'd give your advertising dollars to Google. This is a simplified overview, but the main point holds: Establishing a presence online has become a very democratized process, open to anyone with minimal skills and even the smallest budget for advertising. That's been a boon for legitimate entrepreneurs, but it also makes life very easy indeed for scammers. There are multiple types of bogus websites . Some are imposters, created to look very much like a legitimate commercial or government site that you're familiar with, such as Amazon or Netflix. Others don't imitate a specific site, but instead attempt to capture the look and feel of those sites in general (whether that be a retail site, a government or bank page, or even something relatively shady like a gambling or porn site). Next, scammers find ways to drive traffic to their site. Often that's through phishing texts or emails, but deceptive ads on social media or search engines like Google and Bing work just as well. Once a browser arrives at the criminals' site (or, in some cases, downloads their app), any number of bad things can happen. One is that they'll download malware onto your devices, which can capture passwords or steal personal information. A more straightforward risk is that the browser will cheerfully enter their personal and banking/credit card information, thinking they're making a legitimate purchase. That's largely why fake online shopping sites are so dangerous, and so useful to scammers and identity thieves. Most bogus sites share some or all of those characteristics, but shopping sites are a very specific type of bogus site with some quirks of their own. One characteristic to count on—whether the website directly impersonates a major retailer like Amazon, a niche retailer like MEC, or just positions itself as an anonymously general retail site—is that it will offer unusually low pricing on high-demand products. That might be a mass-market item like the latest gaming console, a suddenly in-demand item that's unavailable through normal channels (remember trying to get masks and sanitizing wipes during COVID-19?), or something as mundane as disposable diapers or high-capacity computer drives. Whatever the product, the advertised price will be low enough to get attention. The bogus site will have any number of ways to transfer a browser's money to its coffers, depending on the scammers' intentions and skillset. A few of the most common include: These are all aside from the potential to infect devices or steal payment information . Sites focused on identity theft might consider a faux purchase to be just the added gravy. How common is online shopping fraud? Well, the news is pretty bad. The FTC's 2022 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book recorded over 327,000 online shopping complaints, the fourth-highest category for overall complaints and second among fraud categories. You would expect these sites to be more prevalent during the final quarter of the year, corresponding to the holiday gift-giving season—Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas itself—and they are, but that doesn't mean you can relax during the other nine months of the year. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, or APWG, identified nearly a million fake or phishing websites during the first quarter of 2022 alone (not a busy time of year for shopping), for example. To be clear, only 14.6% of those were eCommerce sites, but that still translates to well over 140,000 bogus shopping sites. The true number is almost certainly higher because the APWG only tracks the ones that use a phishing approach. Many opt to simply buy advertising instead (or as well), and those won't be captured in the APWG's statistics. However you slice it, there's a definite risk of encountering these sites when you shop. The good news is that bogus shopping sites aren't hard to spot, once you're aware of the risk. They aren't built for permanence; scammers pull them together quickly and cheaply and then abandon them once they stop producing.That "just good enough" approach leaves plenty of visible signs you can detect. Below, here's what to look for when recognizing fake online shopping sites. Bad images Bogus sites don't have direct access to the real products' manufacturing images, so they resort to copying and pasting from legitimate sites. \That means bogus sites' product images (and often their fake logos, if they impersonate a legitimate site) are fuzzy and low-res. A URL that's slightly "off" Imposter sites obviously can't have the same URL as the legitimate site, so they'll usually have a URL that looks right, but isn't quite. They might have a typo in the name, or incorporate the real company's name into their URL in a non-standard way ("myfakesite.amazon.com.123xyz.com"), or—sneakiest of all—use a letter from a different language's character set , which looks the same to the eye, but not to the computer. Broken links The scammers may have simply copied and pasted user interface elements from a legitimate site, in which case many links on the site may be broken (or simply not clickable). Lots of missing elements A legitimate retail website will have several pages of legalese, often starting with a pop-up about its cookie policy or privacy policy. You should certainly expect to see a detailed document spelling out shipping policies, return and refund policies, and similar details. If those are missing or brief and vapid, it's probably a fake site. Limited options for payment Sites that plan to take your money and run will often show oddly specific payment options, from wire transfers to gift cards to cryptocurrency. The thing those payment methods have in common is that it's very difficult to get money back once it's spent. Sites geared around capturing your personal or payment information, on the other hand, may insist on getting your credit card. Typos, grammar, and linguistic errors Simple, silly language errors are often a red flag. Scammers may not be native English speakers, and it shows up in awkward or sometimes inappropriate phrasing. Errors in actual product listings aren't necessarily a smoking gun—you'll see them frequently on real Amazon pages—because they come from the manufacturers, who are often not English speakers. Language errors on the rest of the site are more of a concern. HTTP vs. HTTPS In the address bar of your browser, a legitimate retail site's URL will start with HTTPS, rather than HTTP, and will show a closed lock symbol. The majority of fake sites now also have an HTTPS URL and will show the lock (so this isn't as helpful as it used to be), but less-sophisticated scammers may miss that detail. You can automatically rule those ones out. And, of course, the biggest red flag of all is an unrealistically low price on the product you're looking for. We all want to get a really good deal, but that impulse will often lead you astray. If a shopping site fails those basic "eyeball" tests, the smart thing to do is just close that browser tab and walk away. If you want to dig deeper, or if you aren't sure, there are a few quick and easy ways to verify a site's legitimacy. Use a URL/website checker Remember those really sneaky fake URLs that use a letter from another alphabet? The best way to check those (and other problematic elements in a URL) is through a URL verifier/website reputation service, like the ones from URLVoid and Google . Just copy (don't click!) the link, and paste it into the checker. If the site is sketchy, they'll tell you. Look up the site on a registry Domain names all need to be registered and there are several lookup tools to check this, like ICANN's registration lookup (think of it as Spokeo for websites). If a site claims to be Amazon but was registered just a few weeks ago, that's a really big red flag. Similarly, if the site isn't located where it should be, or if the ownership data is obscured, that's grounds for concern. Turn to Google If you have a bad feeling about a particular site, do a quick Google or Bing (or whatever) search that pairs the site's name with keywords like "scam," "fraud," "bogus" or "ripoff" and see what comes up. If you get a lot of hits, that's definitely grounds for concern. Go Forth and Shop (Safely) If a given site fails any or all of those tests, then keeping your wallet in your pocket is definitely the smart choice. Instead of making the purchase, report the site instead to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FTC's Report Fraud website. That will get the investigative wheels turning and may help protect someone less wary from falling victim to the scammers. As always, wariness and skepticism are your friends when it comes to avoiding scams. Don't click on links in emails, texts , or social media messages; instead, go to the company's site by typing the URL directly. If you search a company's page on Google, scroll down through the actual search results until you find it instead of clicking on the sponsored results or advertisements at the top. Most of all, remember the golden rule of scam avoidance: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Keeping those principles in mind, and using the tips given here to screen out dubious sites means you'll be able to shop 'til you drop (safely), despite the vast number of scammers out there. And that—as the credit card ads like to say—is priceless. This story was produced by Spokeo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Joe Rogan mocks 'The View' after co-host accused him of believing in dragons

A South Korean man has been found guilty of dodging his required military service after he binge ate for several months in hopes of becoming too obese to serve in a combat role. The 26-year-old, whose name was not released, was sentenced to a year in prison over the scheme, the Telegraph reported . The man sought help from a friend who provided him with a high-calorie meal plan to reach a body mass index (BMI) high enough to be dismissed for combat roles. “The defendant acknowledged his wrongdoing and expressed a commitment to fulfilling his military duty ‚” said the Seoul eastern district court, local media reported. It’s unclear how authorities became aware of the binge-eating man’s plan. Men in the country under the age of 30 are required to fulfill two years of military service. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) claimed he and President Joe Biden ’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan are “are hand in glove,” collaborating on national security issues during the transition. “Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions, we’ve met,” Waltz said on Fox News Sunday . “For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other — they are wrong.” The Florida representative was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be his national security advisor on Nov. 11. He is the first Green Beret to serve in Congress. Waltz’s conversation with Sullivan was first reported by Axios on Saturday. Sources say the pair discussed the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Last week, Biden approved Kyiv’s use of anti-personnel landmines , a decision Waltz equated to “World War I trench warfare.” He added “We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence and peace and get ahead of this escalation later rather than responding to it.” The downsides of the gym include the lingering smell, the wait for weights, and the nagging feeling that others might be silently judging your form or how much you’re lifting. Johnson Fitness & Wellness’ Matrix Bundle gives you a full gym experience in the comfort of your own home. This package includes adjustable dumbbells, a bench, and a dumbbell storage rack. The star of this bundle is the adjustable dumbbell set , which makes getting a complete workout smoother than you ever imagined. With a twist of the textured metal handles, you can adjust the weight in precise five-pound increments up to a maximum of 50 pounds, replacing a bulky set of traditional weights. Plus, the flat-bottom design keeps the dumbbells steady, so they won’t roll away between reps. Also included in this bundle are an adjustable bench and dumbbell storage rack . This sleek bench provides exceptional stability for a wide range of exercises, like dumbbell presses, incline rows, and Bulgarian split squats. It easily stores upright to save floor space. The storage rack keeps your new dumbbells elevated for easy access and a clutter-free workout space. Free Shipping If you buy something from this post, we may earn a small commission. Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday that she hired an assassin to kill the country’s president, his wife and the speaker of the House of Representatives if she turns up dead. “I’ve given my order, ‘If I die, don’t stop until you’ve killed them.’ And he said, ’yes,’” the vice president told a shocked news conference. Officials said they considered her words, aimed at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., “serious and a matter of national security.” Duterte and Marcos ran together on a unity ticket in 2022 only to have a bitter falling out that saw her resign from his cabinet. The vice president takes over if the president dies and serves the rest of their term, according to the Philippine Constitution. Duterte is the daughter of controversial former President Rodrigo Duterte, who encouraged the execution-style extrajudicial murders of drug users and alleged criminals and who admitted to running his own “death squad” when he was mayor of Davao City. House leaders called for a probe into Duterte’s threat on Sunday. British popstar Adele gave a teary farwell to the audience at her 100th and final Las Vegas show Saturday night. The “Easy on Me” singer expressed sorrow to see the end of her lengthy residency at the 4,000-capacity Colosseum at Caesars Palace and said she doesn’t know when she’ll next play live. “I’m so sad this residency is over but I am so glad that it happened, I really, really am,” she told the crowd, videos posted from the concert show. “I will miss it terribly, I will miss you terribly. I don’t know when I next want to perform again.” The London-born singer, 36, was set to begin her Vegas residency in January 2022 before a Covid outbreak among crew pushed it back to later in the year. She played every Friday and Saturday. “I’m not doing anything else, I’m actually sh—ing myself about what I am going to do,” she joked to the audience. “I don’t have any f—ing plans.” "I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly. I don't know when, I'm gonna next perform again". #WeekendsWithAdele pic.twitter.com/qSAlx3p20o One of the best parts of traveling is all the new and exciting cuisines you can try. But with all the chaos of a new environment, it can be all too easy to miss out on delicious dishes. Eating Europe Food Tours ensures this doesn’t happen with meticulously planned and award-winning tours led by fun, local guides across sixteen different cities including Rome , Lisbon , Paris , and Florence . Its Twilight Trastevere , Undiscovered Lisbon , and Sunset Florence tours are among some of Eating Europe Food Tours best sellers. These tours immerse you in both the flavors and rich culture of the local scene. Booking one is easy: head to Eating Europe Food Tours , select your destination city, and explore a variety of exciting tour options waiting for you. There are day tours, evening excursions, family-friendly adventures, and private tours with exclusive access to famous restaurants. The tours typically last three to four hours and always have a meeting point within easy reach of public transportation. All food and drinks are included in the price of the tour. Whether you’re traveling solo or with a group, Eating Europe Food Tours offers a fun way to step beyond the typical tourist experience. Book on Eating Europe Food Tours’ website and get a code for 10% off a second tour. If you buy something from this post, we may earn a small commission. A 69-year-old Lithuanian man was forced to undergo an emergency leg amputation during a 20-hour rescue operation in the Tasmanian wilderness. The man, who remains in critical condition, arrived at Tasmania’s Royal Hobart hospital on Sunday. He had been participating in a multi-day rafting trip with a group of tourists on the Franklin River when he slipped on a rock, becoming partially submerged and trapped in a crevice where he remained for nearly 20 hours. Mitch Parkinson, an intensive care flight paramedic who responded to the scene told The Guardian that the predicament was “the most challenging case that I have ever taken part in.” One surf lifesaver described the man as “wedged like an hourglass.” He and other rescuers tried freeing him using ropes and pulleys, eventually deploying airbags and hydraulic tools to try to shift the submerged rocks that were pinning the man. “The focus of the entire evening was ensuring that [amputation] was the absolute last resort,” Parkinson said. Deciding to amputate , he added “was not a discussion or decision that was made lightly.” The trapped man spoke only broken English, but his Lithuanian friends helped to supply him with hot drinks and meals during the rescue. A Lithuanian doctor in the tour group was able to act as a translator. Chuck Woolery, the legendary host of the dating show “Love Connection,” has died at 83. The veteran television personality, who was the original host of “Wheel of Fortune,” died at his home in Texas Saturday after experiencing trouble breathing, TMZ reported . His friend, Mark Young, also confirmed the news, writing on X, “It is with a broken heart that I tell you that my dear brother @chuckwoolery has just passed away. Life will not be the same without him, RIP brother.” In 1983, Woolery kicked off his 11-year stint as the host of the famed dating show, “Love Connection,” where he became known for telling viewers before the commercial break, “We’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds.” Other notable television gigs included hosting the shows “Lingo,” “Greed” and “The Chuck Woolery Show.” TikTok is looking to Elon Musk for insight into the controversial app’s future ahead of Donald Trump ’s coming administration. Musk, who is one of the president-elect’s closest confidants, also owns rival platform X. According to the Wall Street Journal , Shou Chew, chief executive of the popular video sharing app, began reaching out to Musk in recent weeks. He and and executives at TikTok’s parent company, Chinese tech giant ByteDance, see the Tesla CEO as a potential point of contact in the White House amid TikTok’s impending ban in the United States due to national security concerns. While sources familiar with the conversations say Chew has not explicitly asked Musk how to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., he has engaged with the billionaire on topics like Trump’s potential tech policy. ByteDance executives are reportedly cautiously optimistic about the conversations. Earlier this year, however, President Joe Biden signed a law banning TikTok if ByteDance doesn’t divest itself of the platform by mid-January. In May, TikTok filed a federal lawsuit arguing the new law violates the free-speech rights of its users. Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes will have to pony up $14,069 after the NFL fined him for unsportsmanlike conduct. According to NBC Sports, the fine stems from a “violent” gesture Mahomes made last Sunday during a touchdown celebration in a game against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills would go on to win the game, ending the Chiefs’ winning streak. A video posted to X by sports reporter Tom Pelissero shows the moment in question. In the clip, Mahomes can be seen making finger guns with both hands and pointing towards the crowd. Mahomes has yet to comment on the fine. Unfortunately for the three-time Super Bowl champion, this isn’t his first fine for conduct on the field. He was previously fined $50,000 for yelling at a game official in 2023 during another game against the Bills. “I had outbursts on the sideline and everybody saw it on a big game, and so there’s going to be consequences to that,” ESPN reports Mahomes said at the time. The NFL fined #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes $14,069 for unsportsmanlike conduct (violent gesture) as he celebrated a touchdown pass last week in Buffalo ... pic.twitter.com/dXgnmYJSYp Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission. As any true audiophile already knows, Amazon Music Unlimited has long been a reliable destination for an elevated listening experience. With millions of high-quality songs and an unparalleled collection of top ad-free podcasts, the platform’s catalog is curated to capture both your attention and your imagination. Now, Amazon is raising the bar with an exciting update: Audible is officially joining Amazon Music Unlimited, cementing the brand’s status as an all-in-one audio hub . Audible’s industry-leading catalog of audiobooks features an expansive selection of can’t-miss bestsellers, hot-off-the-press exclusives, and timeless classics to immerse yourself in. As an Amazon Music Unlimited subscriber, you’ll be free to select one book each month (of any length) and listen to it directly in the Amazon Music app . Whether you’re a fiction buff ready to dive into a thrilling new adventure or a non-fiction enthusiast looking to expand your horizons, Audible’s expansive collection is sure to have the right title that matches your tastes. Plus, when you’re ready to take a break from the book, you can seamlessly swap back to your favorite tunes and podcast episodes —all without having to leave the app. It’s all the audio that you’ll ever need, all in one place! Best of all, this game-changing update is arriving just in time for the holiday season: start a new subscription , and enjoy your first three months of Amazon Music Unlimited, completely for free. Audio art, conversation, and storytelling—all in one place. What’s not to love? Sign up today and get lost in the sound . Just days after Liam Payne’s funeral, Zayn Malik paid tribute to the late One Direction member at his concert in Leeds. X user @nandiscaya captured the tribute and posted the emotional video to X. In it, a large screen displays Payne’s name along with his birth and death year and a message that reads, “Love you bro.” Fans can be heard screaming as the song “Stardust” begins to play. Malik and his band clear the stage as the tune from his latest album is played and sung aloud by emotional concertgoers. Fans can be heard sobbing and breaking down in the audience. The 31-year-old musician first responded to Payne’s death in an Instagram post last month with a throwback photo of the two sleeping. The remaining four One Direction members paid their respects to Payne on Wednesday at his funeral service in Amersham. His burial came more than a month after he fatally fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina. Zayn Malik's tribute to Liam Payne at the end of his first concert of the tour while playing Stardust I'm shaking and crying pic.twitter.com/ZojybxjGXa President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he has chosen Brooke Rollins to be the latest United States secretary of agriculture. In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump writes that Rollins previously served on his 2016 Economic Advisory Council and was the director of the Domestic Policy Council during his first term. Rollins, an attorney, got a degree in agricultural development from Texas A&M University and currently runs the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit aiming to implement Trump’s policies. Also, in his post, Trump says, “Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country.” In her new role, Rollins will be tasked with running the USDA, a department with 100,000 employees that farmers depend on. In an Instagram post, Rollins thanked Trump for her appointment. “It will be the honor of my life to fight for America’s farmers and our Nation’s agricultural communities,” she wrote. A post shared by Brooke Rollins (@brookelrollins)Days before the Jets’ ESPN documentary premiered, former defensive end Mark Gastineau’s feud with Brett Favre made waves on social media on Tuesday. At a Chicago sports memorabilia show last year as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary about “The New York Sack Exchange,” which premieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Gastineau confronted Favre and accused him of letting Giants defensive end Michael Strahan sack him to break his record in 2001. “I was there during that moment, and it was unexpected,” director Ken Rodgers told the Daily News about Gastineau confronting Favre. “We were just following Mark around a card show and if he’s anything, he is still passionate. “You saw it on the football field as a sack master celebrating and he is still as passionate about what he feels and believes. In retrospect, maybe I’m not as surprised that he would have that moment with Favre now that we’ve experience so much time with him and done interviews with him and seen his career. “At the time, it was totally unexpected that happened.” During the interaction in Chicago, Favre and Gastineau shook hands, and Favre mentioned to the former defensive end how they had met before. “Yeah, right — when you fell down for [Strahan],” said Gastineau. “I’m going to get my sack back. I’m going to get my sack back, dude.” A surprised Favre replied, “You probably would hurt me,” and Gastineau shouted back, “Well, I don’t care. You hurt me. You hurt me! You hear me?” “Yeah, I hear you,” Favre replied. “You really hurt me. You really hurt me, Brett,” Gastineau said to Favre before a handler escorted him away. Gastineau is clearly still angry about the final game of the 2002 season between the Packers and Giants when Strahan broke his controversial single-season sack record (22). Many believe Favre fell on purpose to give Strahan the record of 22.5. At the time, Gastineau attended the game and hugged Strahan afterward. However, he later expressed his feelings about Strahan breaking the record in an ESPN interview in 2020 . During the documentary, Gastineau said about the incident, “Anybody will tell you that Brett Favre took a dive.” Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt equaled Strahan’s record of 22.5 in 2021. Favre addressed the incident between him and Gastineau on X in a long thread . The three-time NFL MVP said he didn’t intentionally take the sack to hurt Gastineau. “There was no malice on my part,” Favre said in the post. He also endorsed Gastineau for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “He was made to be an enemy by the media, which we can see in that Phyllis George interview,” James Weiner, who also directed the documentary, told the Daily News about Gastineau. “They blame him for the [sack dance] rule change. He feels like the world has been against him, rightly or wrongly and he got some good points. “The Favre-Strahan sack record, there are a lot of people who think that the league wanted Strahan to have the sack record. He was a popular player among a lot of people, the league, and opponents, and Gastineau was not a popular player. So, you had two popular players involved in this controversial incident and Gastineau was perceived as the bad guy back then, so there wasn’t much sympathy for him. “Twenty-three years later, we look at it a little bit differently perhaps.” “The New York Sack Exchange” 30 for 30 examines the rise and fall of the Jets’ defensive line from the late 1970s through the 1980s. It also details the relationships between Gastineau, teammates Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, and the late Abdul Salaam, who died in October . “I’m sorry, he won’t get to see the finished film,” Weiner said about Salaam. “But I’m happy he was a big part of it. I keep telling Ken, the timing of this thing was unbelievable.” The documentary is narrated by musician, actor, and lifelong Jets fan Method Man, and the film is directed by Rodgers (The Tuck Rule, The Two Bills, Four Falls of Buffalo) and Weiner (The Brady 6, SEC Storied: Saturday Night Lights,), who grew up in Long Island in Port Washington. Rodgers wants people to take away a special message when watching the documentary. “For me, it’s never too late to forgive past transgressions between people,” he said. “It’s really hard to get along with people you work with because you’re all striving towards different individual goals at the same time. Not everybody that works together gets along, let alone out in the real world or at the supermarket. “These guys disliked each other on some level more than most people dislike their coworkers. It was real, the anger and frustration, so much so, they’re still working through it, but they are still working through it. “I’m sitting at a reunion with somebody 30 years from now, I’m not going to care about those little transgressions that make me upset. The impact the film had on me was to reevaluate my work relationships and realize that if these guys can sit down and talk with each other and work things out, then anybody can.”

Lance Terry scored a game-high 22 points, helping lead Georgia Tech to a 92-49 rout of visiting Alabama A&M on Saturday in Atlanta. Javian McCollum added 18 points, while Jaeden Mustaf chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds, as Georgia Tech (6-7) won its second game in three outings. Baye Ndongo had 10 points for the Yellow Jackets, who shot 54.1 percent (33 of 61) from the field and made 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) on 3-pointers. AC Bryant and Bilal Abdur-Rahman each led the Bulldogs (4-9) with 11 points. Alabama A&M managed to shoot just 20.8 percent (15 of 72) from the field en route to its sixth straight loss. After London Riley's 3-pointer cut the Bulldogs' deficit to 16-15, McCollum's triple began a 12-0 scoring run, extending Georgia Tech's lead to 28-15 with 5:30 remaining in the opening half. Bryant's layup stopped the Yellow Jackets' run, but McCollum scored five straight points to push Georgia Tech's advantage to 15 at the 4:13 mark. The lead expanded to 18 points before Quincy McGriff's layup trimmed the Bulldogs' deficit to 16. Terry's back-to-back triples jump-started a 12-3 run to close the first half with Georgia Tech ahead 50-25. McCollum led all scorers with 18 first-half points, while McGriff led Alabama A&M with seven. Ndongo's dunk to open the second half started a 10-1 Georgia Tech run, stamped with Duncan Powell's triple with 17 minutes left to push the Yellow Jackets' lead to 60-26. After Angok Anyang knocked down a pair of free throws for the Bulldogs, Terry's fourth triple was followed by Naithan George's layup, extending Georgia Tech's lead to 68-35 with 11:49 left. Jaylen Colon and Terry then traded triples, before Georgia Tech's 13-6 spurt was stamped with Ndongo's layup at the 3:33 mark, giving the Yellow Jackets an 84-44 edge. Georgia Tech's dominant day was stamped with baskets from a pair of Yellow Jacket walk-ons, as Emmers Nichols and Marcos San Miguel each tallied their first career points in the closing minutes. --Field Level MediaCONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Kobe Knox's 13 points helped South Florida defeat Portland 74-68 on Thursday. Knox also had six rebounds for the Bulls (3-2). Brandon Stroud added 11 points while shooting 4 for 12 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line while he also had six rebounds. Jamille Reynolds shot 3 of 6 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line to finish with 10 points. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, obituaries, sports, and more.