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Don’t count Mark Scheifele out of the 4 Nations Face-Off just yet. His head coach says the Winnipeg Jets No. 1 centre remains in the mix for Team Canada, based on the conversations he’s had with GM Don Sweeney. “He’s right there on the bubble,” Scott Arniel told reporters in Buffalo, where his team was to take on the Sabres on Thursday night. “Don’t know where everything’s going to be in February. With the schedule you’re starting to see bodies drop around the league. You never know where things may shake out.” For some, Scheifele was a surprise omission from the Canadian squad unveiled on Wednesday. Tied for the Jets goal-scoring lead with Kyle Connor at 13 and two behind Connor in points with 27 (going into Thursday night), Scheifele is playing some of the best two-way hockey of his career. At 31, he’s on pace for his third 30-goal season and is averaging at least a point per game for the seventh time in his 12 NHL seasons. “He’s disappointed,” Arniel said. “But he’s also going to continue to play the way he plays. He wants to be that guy if there is an opportunity for him to be on that team.” With a team stacked at centre – Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Brayden Point are all options – the thinking is Team Canada was looking less at offence and more at a well-rounded game from its final additions. Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, who cracked the Team Canada roster, told the Winnipeg Sun on Wednesday seeing his teammate passed over tainted his joy of being selected. “It was bittersweet,” Morrissey said. “I tried to be there to support him and just let him know that I was feeling for him because I know how much he wanted to be there.” Scheifele has played for Canada in the world championship and for the young Team North America in the 2016 World Cup. The 4 Nations Face-Off is seen as a precursor to, and potentially an audition for, the 2026 Winter Olympics.

By KELVIN CHAN, Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Looking for a new social media platform because X, Threads and Mastodon just aren’t cutting it? You could try Bluesky . People seeking to avoid chaos, noise and political bluster in the aftermath of the U.S. elections are noticing a different mood on the Bluesky social platform, where the vibe is seemingly welcoming and there are noticeably fewer trolls. The site announced it had rapidly added more than a million new users in the week after Election Day, and has emerged as one of the fastest growing rivals to Elon Musk’s X and similar platforms. If you’re tempted to check out the new space, here’s a guide on how Bluesky works: Maybe you’re not ready to commit to adding yet another social media account. No problem — you can still look around on Bluesky without signing up because all posts and profiles are public. You might get a sense of deja vu because the platform’s look and feel are very similar to X. That should be no surprise because Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was an early Bluesky champion. (Dorsey’s no longer involved with Bluesky, which is owned and run by its executive team as a public benefit corporation.) If you take the plunge and get an account, you’ll need a username. You’ll notice Bluesky handles are a little bit different because they end by default in the site’s domain, .bsky.social. You can personalize your handle to make it more memorable, by using your own website’s domain or buying a custom one through Bluesky. But it might not be something most newbie users need or want to do right away. Bluesky boasts that it gives users “algorithmic choice” to tailor the content they’re shown instead of leaving it up to the whims of a centralized system. “Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see,” it says . Related Articles What it means is that you can follow custom feeds set up by other users, or design your own. If you tap #Feeds in the menu on the left, you’ll see some default offerings like Cat Pics and Gardening. My Bangers is a list of your most popular posts by likes and Catch Up shows the site’s most popular posts from the past 24 hours. You can find more by doing a search and tapping the Feeds button. There’s also the usual “Discover” feed of suggested posts and a chronological feed of accounts that you follow. To help new users settle in, Bluesky has starter packs of recommended feeds and accounts to follow, which anyone can create and share. They don’t show up in Bluesky’s search results but can be found in directories online . Or someone might share one with you. After I signed up, a colleague pointed me to one for major news outlets . There are tens of thousands of starter packs, ranging from broadly appealing topics like Taylor Swift to niche interests like cargo bikes or U.K. comedians . You can follow the whole pack or scroll down the list to choose individual accounts. What about people you followed on X? There’s a browser extension tool called Sky Follower Bridge that will help you find X users who’ve migrated to Bluesky. But check before clicking the follow button to make sure it’s not a different user using the same display name or handle. Ready to join the conversation? You can write posts or reply to others but keep it short because there’s a limit of 300 characters — 20 more than on X. You can also upload photos and videos, though videos can’t be longer than 60 seconds. GIFs and emojis are, of course, available too. You can still @ people by typing in their username, like posts by tapping a heart icon or use hashtags to highlight a theme. Bluesky has added a menu to hashtags, so when you click on one you’ll get different options for seeing, or muting, posts on that topic. Bluesky’s decentralization ethos extends to the content control options it offers. For starters, users can choose in their settings menu whether to see replies, reposts or quote posts in their feed. Specific words or tags can be muted temporarily, or forever, while accounts can be muted or blocked individually, or in bulk by adding them a moderation list. You can even fine tune the level of adult content that shows up in your feed. Related Articles Bluesky has a team of content moderators to police the site for material that’s illegal or breaks the rules. But it’s also taking a different approach by open sourcing its content moderation system in an attempt to resolve problems with traditional moderation services which it says “lack transparency and user control.” So, individuals or groups can set up their own content filters, or labelers, that go beyond what Bluesky offers. These labelers can be used to categorize content or users, which can then be blocked or hidden. But they could also be used for informational or creative purposes, like curating or verifying content. There are labelers to identify images generated by artificial intelligence or to fact check news posts. You can find lists of labelers online. After I subscribed to a U.S. politics labeler, some posts in my feeds were flagged “!Donald Trump” or “!Democrat politician” and hidden unless I click Show. Follow Kelvin Chan on Bluesky Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

KILLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — American skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she suffered an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of a World Cup giant slalom race Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just can’t move,” she said later in a video posted on social media . “I have a pretty good abrasion and something stabbed me. ... I’m so sorry to scare everybody. It looks like all scans so far are clear.” She plans to skip the slalom race Sunday, writing on Instagram she will be “cheering from the sideline.” The 29-year-old was leading after the first run of the GS and charging for her 100th World Cup win. She was within sight of the finish line, five gates onto Killington’s steep finish pitch, when she an outside edge. She hit a gate and did a somersault before sliding into another gate. The fencing slowed her momentum as she came to an abrupt stop. Reigning Olympic GS champion Sara Hector of Sweden won in a combined time of 1 minute, 53.08 seconds. Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia was second and Swiss racer Camille Rast took third. The Americans saw Paula Moltzan and Nina O’Brien finish fifth and sixth. “It’s just so sad, of course, to see Mikaela crash like that and skiing so well,” Hector said on the broadcast after her win. “It breaks my heart and everybody else here.” The crash was a surprise for everyone. Shiffrin rarely DNFs — ski racing parlance for “did not finish.” In 274 World Cup starts, she DNF'd only 18 times. The last time she DNF'd in GS was January 2018. Shiffrin also has not suffered any devastating injuries. In her 14-year career, she has rehabbed only two on-hill injuries: a torn medial collateral ligament and bone bruising in her right knee in December 2015 and a sprained MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her left knee after a downhill crash in January 2024. Neither knee injury required surgery, and both times, Shiffrin was back to racing within two months. Saturday was shaping up to be a banner day for Shiffrin, who skied flawlessly in the first run and held a 0.32-second lead as she chased after her 100th World Cup win. Shiffrin, who grew up in both New Hampshire and Colorado and sharpened her skills at nearby Burke Mountain Academy, has long been a fan favorite. Shiffrin is driven not so much by wins but by arcing the perfect run. She has shattered so many records along the way. She passed Lindsey Vonn’s women’s mark of 82 World Cup victories on Jan. 24, 2023, during a giant slalom in Kronplatz, Italy. That March, Shiffrin broke Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark’s Alpine mark for most World Cup wins when she captured her 87th career race. To date, she has earned five overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals — along with a silver — and seven world championships. In other FIS Alpine World Cup news, the Tremblant World Cup — two women’s giant slaloms at Quebec’s Mont-Tremblant scheduled for next weekend — were canceled. Killington got 21 inches of snow on Thanksgiving Day, but Tremblant — five hours north of Killington — had to cancel its races because of a lack of snow. ___ AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report. ___ More AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing Peggy Shinn, The Associated PressNeel Kamal writes about sustainable agriculture, environment, climate change for The Times of India. His incisive and comprehensive reporting about over a year-long farmers' struggle against farm laws at the borders of the national capital won laurels. He is an alumunus of Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology. Read More ​9 reasons to have avocados for breakfast regularly​ Cute baby names starting with 'D' ​10 most expensive chicken breeds in the world​ 10 fruits that can burn belly fat 10 cool baby boy nick names inspired by cute British novel characters 10 hair care habits to increase hair growth 9 Reasons women should try Guava leaf tea 10 signs of an emotionally draining relationship 10 lesser-known animals that belong to the tiger family 10 emotional needs you shouldn't overlook in relationships‘Clear route back to government’ declares Martin as FF & FG set to keep SF out of power again while Hutch still in fight

Avior Wealth Management LLC Purchases 48 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)North Carolina has interviewed former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick for its head coaching position, two people with knowledge of the situation said Thursday. Both people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school isn't commenting publicly on its search. Belichick's interview, first reported by Inside Carolina, comes a week after the school fired its winningest coach in College Football Hall of Famer Mack Brown. The school announced Nov. 26 that Brown wouldn't return for a seventh season in his second stint at the school, with Brown staying on to coach last weekend's rivalry loss to N.C. State. Former Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens is working as the interim coach for an upcoming bowl game as UNC conducts it search. Moving on from the 73-year-old Brown to hire the 72-year-old Belichick would mean UNC is turning to a coach who has never worked at the college level, yet had incredible NFL success alongside quarterback Tom Brady throughout most of his 24-year tenure with the Patriots that ended last season . In the time since, he had been linked to NFL jobs , notably the Atlanta Falcons in January. UNC’s opening comes at a time of rapid changes in college athletics with free player movement through the transfer portal and players able to cash in on their athletic fame with endorsement opportunities. There’s also the impending arrival of revenue sharing, part of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement proposal that gained preliminary approval by a judge in October. “I think it's a great time for me to get out,” Brown said after Saturday's loss to the Wolfpack. “This isn't the game that I signed up for. It's changed so much.” In an UNC-produced podcast earlier this week, athletic director Bubba Cunningham said all the coaches the school is talking with about its job “are playing,” with college football having reached its conference title games before unveiling the 12-team College Football Playoff and bowl assignments. Cunningham said then that “fit” was the most important thing in finding Brown’s successor. “There's a certain person that’s best suited at the right time, at the right place,” he said. “And right now, that’s we’re looking for: Where are we today, who can lead us in the next three, five, 10 years?” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

I consider an investment in ( ) shares to be an investment in an . There's a lot to like about the company. As an investor considering companies to own for , I want to see a few different things. Number one, I'll look for a company that can provide a good starting that will hopefully grow from there. Second, if I'm investing for passive income, I want the dividends to continue flowing, even during an economic downturn. Thirdly, I would hope that the can keep growing over the long term. So how does Brickworks compare to the ( )? NAB is an impressive bank with a solid market share, but it's also part of a very competitive sector that strives to attract the same borrowers. This is hurting lending margins. NAB faces the additional challenge of other banks, such as ( ), targeting growth in business banking, which is where NAB specialises. This dynamic could make future NAB dividend growth more challenging than in the past, in my view. So, let's run through why I think Brickworks shares are attractive as a dividend giant. Brickworks doesn't have the largest dividend yield on the ASX, but I think it's a solid starting place, particularly given where were a few years ago and where they could be in the coming years (hopefully lower). Don't forget, the dividend yield is just the starting yield. The yield on the initial cost can grow as dividend increases flow through to shareholders over the long term. The ASX dividend giant recently reported its , and the board decided to pay an annual dividend per share of 67 cents. That translates into a grossed-up dividend yield of 3.6%, including . and so on. It'd be completely understandable if a company had cut their dividend during any of those years. Brickworks hasn't reduced its dividend payouts in a long time — in fact, meaning the dividend has been maintained or grown every year since then. In contrast, owners of NAB shares endured a dividend cut in 2020. Dividend stability can never be 100 per cent guaranteed, but I like the record that the ASX dividend giant Brickworks is developing. Brickworks hasn't always consistently grown its dividend, but it's now building an increasingly impressive streak. The business has grown its dividend every year for the past 11 years in a row. It lifted its FY24 annual dividend by 3% to 67 cents. That's not a huge growth rate, but ongoing progress is pleasing. Brickworks essentially funds its payouts with the dividends from its investment division and the net rental profit from its property trusts. It owns half of an industrial property trust alongside ( ). That trust is building huge warehouses on excess Brickworks land, which is unlocking rental and increasing the underlying value of the land. Brickworks is expecting significant rental growth in the coming years as more projects are finished and rental contracts are renewed at higher rates. This could help fund further dividend growth in future years and help the business remain an ASX dividend giant.Celebrity-loved jeweler Azza Fahmy has ‘a strong connection’ with Saudi ArabiaAP Business SummaryBrief at 6:02 p.m. EST

Governance Risk And Compliance (GRC) Platform Market Size To Increase By USD 37.63 Billion Between 2023 To 2028, Market Segmentation By Deployment, Component, Geography , TechnavioVehicle ADAS Camera Module Market Industry Dynamics and Contributions by HELLA GmbH, Panasonic, MCNEX, Sony, ZF Friedrichshafen, OFILM, Continental, Samsung Electro Mechanics (SEMCO)LUFKIN, Texas (AP) — Tonya Jackson left an Angelina County nursing home on a recent December day, happy with the successful resolution she brokered between the staff and a resident. The elderly woman faced eviction after communication broke down between her family and the facility. That’s when Jackson stepped in. Jackson is the Deep East Texas managing local ombudsman for long-term care facilities. Each day she serves Texans living at these facilities as a state-assigned independent advocate. “We do not enter a nursing facility to wreak havoc,” Jackson said. “We enter the nursing facility to assist and advocate for the residents who do not feel they have a voice. We are there to help mend the broken bridge.” There are not enough people like Jackson in Texas, which has a dismal track record for long-term care. The state ranked 42nd for safety and quality, on a 2018 scorecard from AARP, the last time the survey was taken. The lack of ombudsmen — which include both paid staff and volunteers — is a statewide issue, and is acute in Deep East Texas, which includes Angelina, Nacogdoches and Newton counties. Just five people, two paid staff and three volunteers, bounce between 48 long-term care facilities — 34 nursing facilities and 14 assisted living facilities. “We would be lost in the long-term care community without them, but they definitely need more support across the board,” said Andrea Earl , the associate state director of advocacy and research for the AARP. In early December, the Deep East Texas Council of Governments, a group made up of representatives from local governments, called for more volunteers to bolster this program. Jackson prays the extra hands will better support her small team. She believes one volunteer for each facility would go a long way toward improving the lives of residents. “Volunteers can usually catch things that we can’t, being that our time is so limited going to each of the facilities,” Jackson said. At the same time, state officials hope the Legislature will step in to provide extra support when they reconvene in January. Patty Ducayet , the state’s lead ombudsman, wants lawmakers to fund more full-time and part-time positions, regulate the use of Medicaid and create a portal to handle involuntary discharge, the eviction of residents. Texas legislators have signaled they intend to prioritize dementia care and research this session. Earl hopes this means they’ll see the value in prioritizing the ombudsman program as well. The program has faced an uphill battle in past sessions. “This session, we have to continue to lay the groundwork to ensure that legislators over in the big pink building understand that this is a critical office to long-term care residents and families,” Earl said. The state ombudsman works independently from the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees the state’s long-term care facilities. This independence provides ombudsmen the chance to work on behalf of residents without fearing retribution. Texas utilizes full-time employed ombudsmen to investigate complaints related to the health, safety, welfare and rights of residents in care facilities and help resolve any issues. Their work is ideally supplemented by a large force of volunteers who do similar work but for only a few hours a week. Jackson tries to see 15 to 20 people at each facility during her monthly visits. If she’s successful, she’ll meet with every resident at least once a year. The job requires patience and empathy, Jackson said. In many places, ombudsmen are the only visitors residents get from the outside world and the conversations provide them a level of peace. Her visits serve not only to connect with residents but also to establish a rapport with staff at each facility so she can more effectively address complaints. Facilities without that rapport may see ombudsmen as people just trying to stir up problems, Earl said. Ombudsmen and facilities have clashed before. In 2023, the Texas Assisted Living Association worked with Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches on legislation that Earl said would have made the job of ombudsman harder. The legislation would have limited what files ombudsmen could review, even when it is requested by the patient, Earl said. “Accessing those documents and looking at history, especially when we’re talking about dementia patients and those facing severe medical issues, is a key part of what they do,” Earl said. Carmen Tilton, the vice president of public policy for the Texas Assisted Living Association, said the organization supported House Bill 4220 , which would have impacted ombudsman access to patient records. Their goal wasn’t to curb access, however, but to bring Texas regulation in line with federal regulations. Prior to this, even volunteer ombudsmen – without consent from residents – could access any resident information. This meant they could access Social Security numbers, bank account information, doctors information, prescriptions, and more, Tilton said. The bill also sought changes to training to clarify the differences between facilities and to establish guidelines for what is an ombudsman’s job and what is that of law enforcement. “It was perceived as an attack on the program, which was not our intent,” Tilton said. Clardy dropped the bill before it went for a vote. Since then, the ombudsman office has worked with the Texas Assisted Living Association directly to institute many of the changes Tilton hoped to see within the organization’s framework without requiring legislative intervention. Making changes actually happen within the facility can be difficult, slow and may result in backsliding instead of progress, Ducayet said. An ombudsman may fix a problem for one resident only to be back in the same facility facing the same problem with another resident. This can be extremely frustrating and requires volunteers and staff to have patience. When done right, the issues are resolved within the facility — between the administration, residents and their families — and don’t require state intervention. Jackson does a good job of this, said Lynne’ Nix , the business office manager for Shady Acres Health & Rehabilitation in Newton County. Nix’s relationship with Jackson has been built on the belief that Jackson’s interventions help both the facility and the resident. Sometimes a resident isn’t comfortable speaking their mind and the situation deteriorates quickly. The ombudsman is the logical answer. “They’re the true advocates for the residents,” Nix said. In 2024 , the state ombudsman program had a 25% turnover rate of paid staff, the highest it has ever been. Those who have stayed are overworked, Ducayet said. Ideally, Texas would have one staff member for every 2,000 licensed care facility beds. Right now, Texas has one person for every 2,514 beds, she said. If the program was fully staffed, then paid personnel could focus their work on recruiting and supporting more volunteers, Ducayet said. An additional 22 full-time employees would further improve advocacy statewide. Local volunteers, who are often people whose family members are in long-term care facilities, or are eyeing a facility for themselves, serve as the “boots on the ground,” Earl said. They can accomplish a lot if they can focus on one or two facilities at a time, Ducayet said. But that’s not a reality for Texas right now. Since 2019, the number of active volunteers has decreased by more than 100 people, leaving only 300 people to serve as volunteers across the state. The work, whether as a volunteer or a full-time staff member, takes its toll. Residents, who are often elderly or ailing, die. The sudden loss of a person who you have been meeting with for months, or even years, can be extremely difficult, Ducayet said. After serving in the field for 18 years, she learned that any meeting with a person could be her last. “Those are hard things,” Ducayet said. “It takes resilience and grit, like most hard things do.” Fewer staff and volunteers means longer times between visits to care facilities. Having more eyes and ears on the ground helps address problems at a facility more quickly, Ducayet said. This could go a long way toward improving elderly care and preventing problems from escalating to the point where state intervention feels necessary. Ducayet has several goals this legislative session to improve the ombudsman program and care for residents of long-term care facilities overall. First is increasing state funding for the ombudsman program by about $3 million. This would cover the cost of 22 additional full-time ombudsmen statewide, including a quality assurance officer and discharge rights officer at the state level. She also wants to resolve noncompliance with state and federal discharge rules by nursing facilities. Involuntary discharge, like what Jackson’s client was facing in early December, is the No. 1 complaint received by the program. Ducayet believes creating an online portal for nursing homes to file discharge notices, hiring for a position that is over discharges statewide and making it increasing fines if a nursing home violates discharge laws will help. Increasing staff at long-term care facilities should also be a priority, Ducayet said. She and the AARP are advocating for the state to require nursing homes to use 85% of Medicaid reimbursements for payroll. This would put the money in the hands of caregivers, instead of corporations, Ducayet said. A similar bill was proposed in 2023. The Texas Senate approved it, as did a House committee. But it never received a full vote by the state House. . Earl believes it can go all the way this year. These goals may not necessarily resolve the major issues within the long-term care industry in Texas, but they would go a long way toward increasing accountability in the industry, Earl said. The AARP shares many of Ducayet’s goals, and Earl believes the work completed during the 88th Legislative Session to educate lawmakers about the ombudsman program and how it’s funded could help them progress. She is optimistic, but also weary of what is gearing up to be a potentially complicated session. While Ducayet is working at the state level to improve upon the program, Jackson has other goals – mainly: to find more local volunteers. If she could find one volunteer for each of the 48 facilities in Deep East Texas, an 11 county region, then she could feel more confident that her program is truly meeting the needs of this vulnerable population. This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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Rock Island rolls again, remains unbeaten at 3-0NFL Rumors: Jim Harbaugh Eyed Bears, Raiders HC Jobs Before Joining ChargersCeramics decorate this porcelain "palace" outside Jingdezhen, a city known as the porcelain capital of China. Ming Dynasty vases and ceramics are used in the rotunda. Doreen Siow JINGDEZHEN, Jiangxi – Driving into Jingdezhen, it looks like any other inland Chinese provincial city that has rampantly urbanised: concrete infrastructure and superhighways sprawled against a rustic landscape of paddy fields and mountains. But I start noticing lamp posts and road dividers clad in blue-and-white porcelain, which look a little out of place in the grey city, but point to Jingdezhen’s past as the world’s porcelain capital. The dusty city in south-eastern Jiangxi province has been producing porcelain wares for more than 2,000 years. It is surrounded by the Gaoling Mountain range, which is rich in the kaolin clay deposits needed for the finest porcelain. According to China’s imperial records, when Emperor Shizong of Liao (947-951) heard that the kaolin here produced ceramics that was “white like jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper” and “sounds like a bell”, he arranged the Gaoling mines to supply porcelain exclusively to royalty. Royal kilns were built and over time, the porcelain was also exported. Chinese porcelain made its way to Persia around the ninth century. At the same time, Jingdezhen artisans became acquainted with Persian cobalt, which turned a vivid blue when fired under high temperatures. China’s blue-and-white ceramics became a hugely popular colour combination for decorating tableware. From the Tang Dynasty (618-907) onwards, the porcelain became a major export for China that was copied globally. At its peak, Jingdezhen employed more than a million men, women and children in 3,000 kilns in the 18th century. The manufacturing process was split into areas of specialisation. Some workers focused on mixing clay, for instance, while others fired the kilns. Artisans drew patterns, painted and carved. This division of labour continues today, though many processes have changed with the times. In Jingdezhen, even the lamp posts are clad in porcelain. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Today, most workshops have abandoned the kaolin from nearby mountains for purer deposits in other provinces. Electric kilns have replaced wood-fired ones. Political upheaval and mass production in factories elsewhere are among the reasons for the diminished dominance of Jingdezhen porcelain. But the craftsmanship never left the city, and the tradition is slowly being revived. While state-owned porcelain factories have shuttered, many have been converted into art hubs housing private studios and workshops. Rising affluence in China has brought new customers, while the government’s move in 2010 to promote tourism has resulted in domestic and overseas visitors flocking in. More than eight million tourists visited Jingdezhen during China’s week-long National Day holiday in 2023, according to the Jiangxi Department of Culture and Tourism. The city has also attracted over 30,000 Jing Drifters – young Chinese migrants escaping the stress of life in major metropolises like Beijing and Guangzhou. They are drawn to Jingdezhen’s lower rents, slower pace and opportunities to pursue art, set up cafes or discover themselves. Here, design lovers, influencers and travellers can marvel at porcelain rotundas, spend time at repurposed brick kilns-turned-art hubs and cafes, and shop for ceramics. Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue is a popular spot to shop for ceramics. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue is an art mall converted from an old porcelain factory. Parts of the brick kilns and chimneys have been retained, while the original factories have been repurposed into art studios, shops selling ceramics, eateries and open spaces for entertainment. In the evenings, the bustling plaza is filled with stalls helmed by young potters and entrepreneurs selling ceramics. Salesman Wang Xiaowei says: “Most of the factories and workshops in Jingdezhen today are small. The scale is not large because it is still mainly manual production here. There are many small family-run workshops.” He works at Qi He Tang, a porcelain shop outside Jingdezhen Sculpture Porcelain Factory, a ceramics bazaar built on the former site of a state-owned factory. His family runs a factory with some 20 employees, mostly relatives. He says porcelain tableware can be mass-produced by machines in Jingdezhen, but items such as vases and tea sets are still mostly finished by hand. “The tea sets are mass-produced, but the patterns are painted by hand,” he adds. “So, it is more expensive, and the output is low.” Another highlight is the beautiful Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, located in the restored historical neighbourhood of Taoyangli. Next to it are the ruins of an imperial Ming Dynasty kiln. Designed by Studio Zhu Pei, the award-winning museum was built using recycled kiln bricks and new ones. Recycled bricks are plentiful in the city, as the kilns are demolished regularly to ensure top thermal performance. The archaeological museum is composed of buildings shaped like old Chinese kilns, and houses ceramic relics and shards found in the city. It is popular with tourists and international students keen to learn about pottery and Chinese ceramic culture, says Ms Zhu Ziqi, an English-speaking guide who graduated from the Jingdezhen Ceramics University. “This year also marks the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations. So, there are also many French people visiting,” she adds. Ming Dynasty vases and ceramics are used in the rotunda of Yu Ermei’s porcelain palace. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Just outside Jingdezhen is a porcelain “palace” built by grandmother and retired ceramicist Yu Ermei. The “palace” features three-storey rotundas covered from floor to ceiling in porcelain shards. More than 60,000 colourful ceramic wares, including a pair of precious Ming vases, decorate the windows, doors, ceilings and walls. The attraction is a hot spot for domestic tourists and youngsters, many dressed in traditional clothing or hanfu for photographs. Jingdezhen, which once made ceramics for royalty and dominated the world stage, has successfully transformed itself to be cool and relevant again in 21st-century China. Visitors dressed in blue and white hanfu to match the decor. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Different types of Jingdezhen porcelain Jingdezhen ceramicists today make a huge variety of wares – from delicate Chinese tea sets to modern Western-style tableware to contemporary art pieces commissioned by museums, casinos and other entities. A visit to the studio of ceramic artist Zhu Legeng, a grand master in China’s ceramic art world, shows how he is able to mould and fire clay into fantastical objects of art with vivid colours. Born in Jingdezhen, Zhu studied at the Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute and researched the craftsmanship, history and culture of ceramics. In an interview with China Daily, the artist noted that in ancient China, pottery and agriculture went hand in hand. “Many Chinese ceramics were products of agricultural civilisation,” he said. Oxen and other farm animals are common motifs in Chinese ceramics. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Zhu often uses domesticated animals as motifs in his works, and his studio displays many ox and horse sculptures in all shapes and sizes. Some of the ox sculptures are made from a special clay fired to a beautiful rustic orange hue with light gold streaks. The creations have a distinct Chinese aesthetic. Ceramics salesman Wang Xiaowei says the city mainly makes four types of porcelain: qinghua porcelain (blue-and-white porcelain), linglong porcelain with pierced ornamentation, famille rose porcelain and enamel colour-glazed porcelain. Qinghua is regarded as the most famous and popular of the four styles. Many Chinese households have blue-and-white dinner sets and vases. The main raw material, cobalt oxide, turns blue when fired at a high temperature. The patterns in linglong porcelain emerge when viewed against the light. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Linglong porcelain features carved patterns filled with a translucent glaze. This technique is used in Chinese tableware, where rice grain-sized shapes are hollowed out and a glaze applied several times to cover them. When held against the light, a pattern emerges. High-temperature colour glazes and colour enamel porcelain are also favoured by Jingdezhen ceramicists, who make teacups and vases with this technique, often using shapes and styles from the Song and Ming Dynasties. A red porcelain teacup in a floral shape popular in the Song Dynasty. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW Mr Wang’s shop sells handmade, flower-shaped enamel red porcelain teacups, a style from the Song Dynasty. “The five-mouth teacup was from the Song period, when the people loved flowers,” he says. “These cups are made entirely by hand. Our relatives make it in small workshops, so the output is small and only one to two people are involved.” Famille rose porcelain, a technique brought to China in the 17th century from Europe, is when white porcelain ware is fired with a translucent glaze. Colours are applied by hand before the items are fired again. Such porcelain was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Large quantities of these wares were exported from Jingdezhen to Europe, the United States and Singapore. A Peranakan porcelain cup made in the famille rose style. PHOTO: DOREEN SIOW The famille rose porcelain in Singapore was made specially for the wealthy Straits-born Chinese community. Straits Chinese or Nonya porcelain is characterised by exuberant colours, and often features phoenix and tree peony motifs. The Singapore Peranakan Museum has a small but beautiful collection of Nonya porcelain made in Jingdezhen. There is also a selection for sale in the museum’s souvenir shop, as well as in the household department of Tangs. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel nowThe era of mega-deals in IT outsourcing is declining. Having learned from the past, organisations are opting for smaller, short-term contracts, with deals reduced to 3-5 years, to avoid being locked into underperforming relationships and ensure their providers can invest in future capabilities, analysts shared. Biswajit Maity, Senior Principal Analyst at Gartner explained, “The trend of signing large deals in IT outsourcing is declining as organisations have learned from past experiences where such large-scale agreements often failed to deliver the expected returns and were difficult to unwind. To avoid being locked into underperforming relationships or providers unable to invest in future capabilities, businesses are increasingly opting for smaller and short-term contracts. These agile contracts offer flexibility and allow organisations to pivot when needed.” Organisations are seeking to avoid relying on providers who may underperform, face financial instability, or struggle to keep up with technological advancements. However, shorter contracts reduce this risk and allow for faster adjustments. IT being democratised has also enabled organisations to handle tasks in-house that were otherwise outsourced. This has shifted the focus to solving specific problems through a best-of-breed approach, where specialised providers are chosen for particular needs rather than opting for total outsourcing deals. With the fast pace of innovation in IT, driven by advancements in technologies like GenAI, and AI/ML, it is difficult to forecast future needs over long periods. However, short-term contracts allow regular renegotiations so organisations can stay aligned with this technological progress, evading the risk of outdated agreements, he said. “Mega deals have not been happening this year. We see a decline in the $1 billion-plus or $500 million-plus deals this year. There is a spike in deals less than $50 million. It compares with what happens in the macro environment. Several GenAI-related developments are happening, so people don’t want large deals and be caught up in something for 10 years, especially with how fast technology is changing,” Pareekh Jain, CEO at Pareekh Consulting and EIIRTrend stated. Increasing geopolitical uncertainties have also made buyers wary of long-term commitments that could expose them to risks. Buyers prefer shorter deals to avoid being locked into unfavourable relationships, like changes in the provider’s ownership--acquisitions by less-preferred companies, a decline in service quality, or misalignment with evolving organisational priorities. Maity also pointed out that contracts exceeding five years are becoming rare, except in specific government sectors where deals may extend for longer terms. Even in these cases, terms are becoming more flexible, with exit clauses built in. Private sector deals are typically reduced to 3-5 years. “We think we will continue seeing outsourcing based on specific needs rather than handing over the complete IT, or even a complete service line, to a single outsourcer (Total outsourcing). We observe some vendors are still actively pursuing large deals in the market, despite the growing trend toward smaller, more fragmented agreements. This is because smaller deals while offering flexibility, can sometimes hinder the adoption of innovative solutions. Long-term contracts allow vendors to generate higher profits while serving as a strong platform to showcase their capabilities. When contracts are short-term, vendors tend to be more cautious about making significant investments or introducing innovative solutions for customers,” he said. During Infosys’ Q2FY25 earnings conference call, the company’s Chief Financial Officer Jayesh Sanghrajka also observed the strong deal wins were coupled with an expanding pipeline of small deals, giving the company visibility for future growth. “There are various factors that have led to margin expansion. Our guidance change starting from the Q2 performance, and the increase in volumes across multiple sectors, including financial services. Our pipeline, which is a strong large deal pipeline as well as smaller deals, or less than $50 million deals, have grown double-digit. All of these have been baked in,” he shared. Srini Pallia, the CFO & MD of Wipro, during the company’s Q2 FY25 earnings conference call, said, “If you look at our bookings for Q2, of the $3.6 billion, $1.5 billion came from large deals. The balance is a combination of both mid-size deals and smaller deals. If you see the opportunities we get especially during the discretionary spending around Capco, and BFSI. The way I see it is, we do have smaller deals, mid-size deals, and large deals and we continue to remain optimistic on those pipelines.” Comments

‘As a new grandfather I am delighted’, declares Holly Cairns’ dad at election centre after hospital visit with daughterRashford still not doing enough to work his way into Amorim's plans

There has been increasing speculation that Hillary Clinton would run for president of the United States again in 2028. Her involvement in the Clinton Presidential Center's 20th anniversary gala recently increased the excitement. Although there has been no official confirmation, the speculations have been stoked by a number of circumstances surrounding this incident. Clinton’s Involvement in the Clinton Presidential Center Event Hillary and Bill Clinton talked about their contributions to public service during the Clinton Presidential Center's 20th anniversary. Political analysts questioned if their involvement in this event would provide a platform for Hillary Clinton's political resurgence. Although the former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential contender from 2016 has mostly avoided the public eye, this incident sparked new rumors about her possible aspirations in the 2028 election. Hints from Trump’s Adviser: Jason Miller Sparks Speculation When Jason Miller, an assistant to President-elect Donald Trump, implied on social media that Clinton could be considering a second presidential run, the rumors hit a new high. Even if they were hypothetical, his remarks generated more discussion and attention among social media users and political observers. Clinton, meanwhile, has not yet addressed the prospect of rerunning. According to Express US cited by The Economic Times, Clinton has previously stated that she had no plans to run for president again. Age and Public Perception: Critics Weigh In Critics have cited Clinton's age as a major obstacle despite the growing conjecture. She would turn 81 in 2028, which would affect how the public views her chances of winning a second term. This element has caused many to doubt Clinton's ability to run a credible campaign, particularly in light of the rigorous criticism she has already endured. According to The Daily Mail, age is a crucial consideration, especially for applicants vying for the nation's top job. Kamala Harris: The Democratic Contender for 2028? Kamala Harris, the vice president, has also become a significant contender for the 2028 election. Although Harris is still a serious candidate for the Democratic nomination, speculation about her future political goals has indicated that she may run for governor of California in 2026. The Economic Times reports that recent surveys indicate that Harris is leading the field of prospective Democratic contenders for 2028, leaving little opportunity for Clinton to into the race. Polls and Political Landscape The Economic Times emphasized recent polling data that showed Harris is significantly ahead of Clinton among Democratic voters. According to the polls, Harris is the front-runner to win the nomination in 2028. In contrast, Clinton's name is not mentioned much in these predictions. Numerous analysts have conjectured that, in contrast to her other campaigns, Clinton would face a far more formidable obstacle if she decided to run. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News, World and around the world.NJ/NY Gotham FC midfielder Yazmeen Ryan has been traded to Houston Dash in exchange for a record fee, per multiple reports. Ryan was sent to Houston for a reported transfer fee of $400,000, per The Equalizer's . The transfer fee is reportedly thought to be the largest cash intra-league transfer fee in NWSL history. Ryan will reportedly sign a new contract with the Dash, as her current deal with Gotham expires in 2026. The 25-year-old midfielder has had another breakout season on a talent Gotham roster, finishing the season with five goals and five assists. She caught the eye of USWNT coach Emma Hayes, ; since then, she has made four appearances with the USWNT. The NWSL has never been transparent about things like transfer fees, making it difficult to confirm how the amount stacks up against previous fees. But $400,000 is certainly an eye-catching number, and it proves how much Ryan's stock has gone up in the past few years: The Thorns sent the midfielder to Gotham in a three-team trade in 2023, and received $200,000 in allocation money from Angel City during the exchange. The only potentially higher transaction came last season, when Houston sent forward María Sánchez to the San Diego Wave, and received a $500,000 in allocation money in return. (Sánchez had after signing the then-biggest contract in NWSL history.) Ryan started her NWSL career with the Portland Thorns, earning a Supporters' Shield and an NWSL Championship in her first two years in the league. She was a key part of Gotham FC's championship-winning season in 2023. With the trade, the midfielder will be returning to Texas, where she played for TCU for four seasons. Per Kassouf, the trade took place before the transaction moratorium on Friday, Dec. 20. NWSL teams are not allowed to trade and sign players between Dec. 20 and Dec. 26 as part of a league-wide shutdown. The moratorium will lift on Friday, Dec. 27 to allow teams to start signing players again. The move for Ryan is big for the Dash, who finished the season dead last in the league with only five wins. Houston has shied away from big signings over the past few years, with their biggest player — Sánchez — leaving at the start of the season. Now, Houston is finally making some moves. Earlier this month, the Dash Ryan's Gotham teammate, free agent midfielder Delanie Sheehan. The two will be a good pair to shore up the Dash's midfield. As for Gotham, Ryan's departure marks a trend. This past season, Gotham's success has come from its big-name signings. The team signed four USWNT stars last January, in one go, while also bringing in international stars like Spanish forward Esther González, defender Jess Carter, German keeper Ann-Katrin Berger and many more. But the team has also relied on a deep bench, with lesser-known players like Ryan and Sheehan holding down the fort. However, part of having a deep bench is that those strong players sitting on the bench might get a little restless. The team only had one draft pick in the 2024 draft, defender Maycee Bell, and her to the North Carolina Courage halfway through the season because they frankly didn't need her. And now that the season is over, Gotham's players are starting to scatter. Besides Ryan and Sheehan heading to Houston, forward Lynn Williams . Players like defender Sam Hiatt and midfielder Maitane López with the team after getting less playing time. It's possible that Gotham has an overabundance of talent last year, and the players who didn't see as much time on the field want to go somewhere where they're more valued. Gotham, meanwhile, has continued looking towards outside talent. With the midfield a little sparser without Ryan and Sheehan, the team 19-year-old Ghananian midfielder Stella Nyamekye to a three-year contract.

KYIV, Ukraine — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile. escalating the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday’s Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro. In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was in retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks Friday during a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense, representatives of the military-industrial complex and developers of missile systems at the Kremlin in Moscow. Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile. Ukrainian military officials said the missile that hit Dnipro reached a speed of Mach 11 and carried six nonnuclear warheads, each releasing six submunitions. Speaking Friday to military and weapons industries officials, Putin said Russia will launch production of the Oreshnik. “No one in the world has such weapons,” he said. “Sooner or later, other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development. “We have this system now,” he added. “And this is important.” Putin said that while it isn’t an intercontinental missile, it’s so powerful that the use of several of them fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with strategic — or nuclear — weapons. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, echoing Putin’s claim that even with conventional warheads, “the massive use of the weapon would be comparable in effect to the use of nuclear weapons.” In this photo taken from a video released Friday, a Russian serviceman operates at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia. "The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow’s talking points, suggesting the use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement. “These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orbán said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.” Orbán cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick ... there will be consequences,” he said. Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky speaks to journalists Friday during a joint news conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriiy Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukraine. Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday’s missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.” At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.” He said the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine. Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv. In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who said it's not the first time such a threat has been received. Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad. We're all going to die someday. Still, how it happens—and when—can point to a historical moment defined by the scientific advancements and public health programs available at the time to contain disease and prevent accidents. In the early 1900s, America's efforts to improve sanitation, hygiene, and routine vaccinations were still in their infancy. Maternal and infant mortality rates were high, as were contagious diseases that spread between people and animals. Combined with the devastation of two World Wars—and the Spanish Flu pandemic in between—the leading causes of death changed significantly after this period. So, too, did the way we diagnose and control the spread of disease. Starting with reforms as part of Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s, massive-scale, federal interventions in the U.S. eventually helped stave off disease transmission. It took comprehensive government programs and the establishment of state and local health agencies to educate the public on preventing disease transmission. Seemingly simple behavioral shifts, such as handwashing, were critical in thwarting the spread of germs, much like discoveries in medicine, such as vaccines, and increased access to deliver them across geographies. Over the course of the 20th century, life expectancy increased by 56% and is estimated to keep increasing slightly, according to an annual summary of vital statistics published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2000. Death Records examined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see how the leading causes of death in America have evolved over time and to pinpoint how some major mortality trends have dropped off. According to a report published in the journal Annual Review of Public Health in 2000, pneumonia was the leading cause of death in the early 1900s, accounting for nearly 1 in 4 deaths. By the time World War I ended in 1918, during which people and animals were housed together for long periods, a new virus emerged: the Spanish Flu. Originating in a bird before spreading to humans, the virus killed 10 times as many Americans as the war. Many died of secondary pneumonia after the initial infection. Pneumonia deaths eventually plummeted throughout the century, partly prevented by increased flu vaccine uptake rates in high-risk groups, particularly older people. Per the CDC, tuberculosis was a close second leading cause of death, killing 194 of every 10,000 people in 1900, mainly concentrated in dense urban areas where the infection could more easily spread. Eventually, public health interventions led to drastic declines in mortality from the disease, such as public education, reducing crowded housing, quarantining people with active disease, improving hygiene, and using antibiotics. Once the death rates lagged, so did the public health infrastructure built to control the disease, leading to a resurgence in the mid-1980s. Diarrhea was the third leading cause of death in 1900, surging every summer among children before the impacts of the pathogen died out in 1930. Adopting water filtration, better nutrition, and improved refrigeration were all associated with its decline. In the 1940s and 1950s, polio outbreaks killed or paralyzed upward of half a million people worldwide every year. Even at its peak, polio wasn't a leading cause of death, it was a much-feared one, particularly among parents of young children, some of whom kept them from crowded public places and interacting with other children. By 1955, when Jonah Salk discovered the polio vaccine, the U.S. had ended the "golden age of medicine." During this period, the causes of mortality shifted dramatically as scientists worldwide began to collaborate on infectious disease control, surgical techniques, vaccines, and other drugs. From the 1950s onward, once quick-spreading deadly contagions weren't prematurely killing American residents en masse, scientists also began to understand better how to diagnose and treat these diseases. As a result, Americans were living longer lives and instead succumbing to noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs. The risk of chronic diseases increased with age and, in some cases, was exacerbated by unhealthy lifestyles. Cancer and heart disease shot up across the century, increasing 90-fold from 1900 to 1998, according to CDC data. Following the post-Spanish Flu years, heart disease killed more Americans than any other cause, peaking in the 1960s and contributing to 1 in 3 deaths. Cigarette smoking rates peaked at the same time, a major risk factor for heart disease. Obesity rates also rose, creating another risk factor for heart disease and many types of cancers. This coincides with the introduction of ultra-processed foods into diets, which plays a more significant role in larger waistlines than the increasing predominance of sedentary work and lifestyles. In the early 1970s, deaths from heart disease began to fall as more Americans prevented and managed their risk factors, like quitting smoking or taking blood pressure medicine. However, the disease remains the biggest killer of Americans. Cancer remains the second leading cause of death and rates still indicate an upward trajectory over time. Only a few types of cancer are detected early by screening, and some treatments for aggressive cancers like glioblastoma—the most common type of brain cancer—have also stalled, unable to improve prognosis much over time. In recent years, early-onset cancers, those diagnosed before age 50 or sometimes even earlier, have seen a drastic rise among younger Americans. While highly processed foods and sedentary lifestyles may contribute to rising rates, a spike in cancer rates among otherwise healthy young individuals has baffled some medical professionals. This follows the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. At its peak, high transmission rates made the virus the third leading cause of death in America. It's often compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918, though COVID-19 had a far larger global impact, spurring international collaborations among scientists who developed a vaccine in an unprecedented time. Public policy around issues of safety and access also influences causes of death, particularly—and tragically—among young Americans. Gun control measures in the U.S. are far less stringent than in peer nations; compared to other nations, however, the U.S. leads in gun violence. Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens (around 2 in 3 are homicides, and 1 in 3 are suicides), and deaths from opioids remain a leading cause of death among younger people. Globally, the leading causes of death mirror differences in social and geographic factors. NCDs are primarily associated with socio-economic status and comprise 7 out of 10 leading causes of death, 85% of those occurring in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. However, one of the best health measures is life expectancy at birth. People in the U.S. have been living longer lives since 2000, except for a slight dip in longevity due to COVID-19. According to the most recent CDC estimates, Americans' life expectancy is 77.5 years on average and is expected to increase slightly in the coming decades. Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick. This story originally appeared on Death Records and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Ohio State, Michigan players involved in postgame scuffle