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Biden in farewell U.N. address says peace still possible in conflicts in Mideast and Ukraine [Video]

President Joe Biden declared in his final address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that the U.S. must not retreat from the world, as Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon edged toward all-out war and Israels bloody operation against Hamas in Gaza neared the one-year mark.Biden used his wide-ranging address to speak to a need to end the Middle East conflict and the 17-month-old civil war in Sudan and to highlight U.S. and Western allies’ support for Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He also raised concern over artificial intelligence and its potential to be used for repression.His appearance before the international body offered Biden one of his last high-profile opportunities as president to make the case to keep up robust support for Ukraine, which could be in doubt if former President Donald Trump defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in November. Biden insisted that despite global conflicts, he remains hopeful for the future.Ive seen a remarkable sweep of history,” Biden said. I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair but I do not.We are stronger than we think when the world acts together, he added.Biden came to office promising to rejuvenate U.S. relations around the world and to extract the U.S. from forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that consumed American foreign policy over the last 20 years.I was determined to end it, and I did, Biden said of the Afghanistan exit, calling it a hard decision but the right decision. He acknowledged that it was “accompanied by tragedy with the deaths of 13 American troops and hundreds of Afghans in a suicide bombing during the chaotic withdrawal.But his foreign policy legacy may ultimately be shaped by his administration’s response to two of the biggest conflicts in Europe and the Middle East since World War II.There will always be forces that pull our countries apart, Biden said, rejecting a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone. He said, “Our task, our test, is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than the forces pulling us apart.The Pentagon announced Monday that it was sending a small number of additional U.S. troops to the Middle East to supplement the roughly 40,000 already in the region. All the while, the White House insists Israel and Hezbollah still have time to step back and de-escalate.Full scale war is not in anyones interest, Biden said, and despite escalating violence, a diplomatic solution is the only path to peace.Biden had a hopeful outlook for the Middle East when he addressed the U.N. just a year ago. In that speech, Biden spoke of a sustainable, integrated Middle East coming into view.At the time, economic relations between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors were improving with implementation of the Abraham Accords that Israel signed with Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates during the Trump administration.Biden’s team helped resolve a long-running Israel-Lebanon maritime dispute that had held back gas exploration in the region. And Israel-Saudi normalization talks were progressing, a game-changing alignment for the region if a deal could be landed.I suffer from an oxymoron: Irish optimism, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they met on the sidelines of last year’s U.N. gathering. He added, “If you and I, 10 years ago, were talking about normalization with Saudi Arabia … I think wed look at each other like, Whos been drinking what?Eighteen days later, Biden’s Middle East hopes came crashing down. Hamas militants stormed into Israel killing 1,200, taking some 250 hostage, and spurring a bloody war that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza and led the region into a complicated downward spiral.Now, the conflict is threatening to metastasize into a multi-front war and leave a lasting scar on Biden’s presidential legacy.Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes again Tuesday as the death toll from a massive Israeli bombardment climbed to nearly 560 people and thousands fled from southern Lebanon. It’s the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.Israel has urged residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate from homes and other buildings where it claimed Hezbollah has stored weapons, saying the military would conduct extensive strikes against the militant group.Hezbollah, meanwhile, has launched dozens of rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes last week that killed a top commander and dozens of fighters. Dozens were also killed last week and hundreds more wounded after hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants exploded, a sophisticated attack that was widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.Israel’s leadership launched its counterattacks at a time of growing impatience with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s persistent launching of missiles and drones across the Israel-Lebanon border after Hamas started the war with its brazen attack on Oct. 7.Biden reiterated his call on the parties to agree to a cease-fire and hostage release deal, saying it’s time to “end this war” even as hopes for such a deal are fading as the conflict drags on.Biden, in his address, called for the sustainment of Western support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. Biden helped galvanize an international coalition to back Ukraine with weapons and economic aid in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 assault on Ukraine.We cannot grow weary,” Biden said. “We cannot look away.Biden has managed to keep up American support in the face of rising skepticism from some Republican lawmakers and Trump about the cost of the conflict.At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pressing Biden to loosen restrictions on the use of Western-supplied long-range missiles so that Ukrainian forces can hit deeper in Russia.So far Zelenskyy has not persuaded the Pentagon or White House to loosen those restrictions. The Defense Department has emphasized that Ukraine can already hit Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and there is hesitation on the strategic implications of a U.S.-made missile potentially striking the Russian capital.Putin has warned that Russia would be at war with the United States and its NATO allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.Biden and Harris are scheduled to hold separate meetings with Zelenskyy in Washington on Thursday. Ukrainian officials were also trying to arrange a meeting for Zelenskyy with Trump this week.The president also sounded an alarm about the rapid advances in artificial intelligence development, particularly around disinformation, respect for human life and the potential exploitation by totalitarian powers. He told the world leaders, “There may well be no greater test of our leadership than how we deal with A.I.”We must make certain that the awesome capabilities of A.I. will be used to uplift and empower everyday people, not to give dictators more powerful shackles on the human spirit,” he added.Biden struck a wistful tone in his remarks, peppering his speech with references to his first time attending the General Assembly more than 50 years ago, and quoting Irish poetry.Biden held up his decision to step aside up as an instructive moment as he addressed a gathering that has no small share of totalitarian and nondemocratic leaders.Some things are more important than staying in power,” Biden said. “Its your people that matter the most. Never forget, we are here to serve the people. Not the other way around.

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Small Business Funding

College football player raising 5 siblings since his mom’s death [Video]

Armorion Smith pressed his palms together over the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and leaned against the kitchen sink.The 21-year-old Michigan State defensive back needed a moment in the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home he shares with five younger siblings. He has a lot on his plate, more than most college students and certainly more than most student-athletes.His mother, Gala Gilliam, died of breast cancer a month ago and without a father in the family’s life, Smith has become the head of the household while studying criminal justice and playing major college football. He became the legal guardian for four siblings on Sept. 11.”My cards were given to me,” Smith said softly with a steely gaze, standing on a small porch behind the home as the sun set on a recent evening. “I didn’t choose my deck of cards.”His 19-year-old sister, Aleion, is in charge while he is gone for about 12 hours most days to be a student and athlete. Appreciating her selfless sacrifice, Smith said he hopes to help her find a way to start taking classes next semester while juggling her role with the family.Smith looks and sounds determined to help his siblings be happy, healthy and safe. His teammates watch in awe.”I couldn’t even begin to imagine if I was in his situation,” linebacker Jordan Hall said. “He’s in a tough spot, but he is one of the strongest guys I have ever known.”Smith grew up in in Detroit, recalling how he was homeless at times and hopped from house to house to find places to sleep. He was a three-star prospect at River Rouge High School and attended the University of Cincinnati for two years.After Smith’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 during his sophomore season with the Bearcats, he transferred last year to be closer to home. The life lessons from his mom continued.When Smith, holding his 2-year-old sister, arrived at a recent fundraiser, each of his other siblings introduced themselves to people there to support the family and shook their hands while making eye contact.”That’s from my mom,” he said.She was trying to prepare him for what was to come before she died Aug. 19. She was 41.”She used to tell me everything: ‘Get hard’ and all of that,” he recalled. “And I see why she was under a lot of stress.”Smith keeps notes on his phone to help manage busy days that start before dawn, when he is up to make sure his two sisters and three brothers are awake before he leaves for school. Smith gets a lift from a teammate or a ride-hailing service to make the 4-mile trip to campus for therapy on his surgically repaired shoulders and meetings with the football team before going to classes and practice.His eldest sister gets their 16-, 15- and 11-year-old brothers Armond, Avaugn and Arial ready for school. There are two varieties of Cap’n Crunch atop the refrigerator in a kitchen that didn’t have a table or chairs during a recent visit.The school-age brothers rely on a ride-hailing company to get them to school and back while their oldest sister cares for their toddler sister, Amaira.”Me and my sister got to work together to keep this all afloat,” he said. “While I’m in college sports, she’s got to be able to take care of everything that I can’t do, like pick up where I left off, while I’m taking care of business.”He and the siblings he is now responsible for at least have a home thanks in part to a GoFundMe campaign.While Smith’s story is unusual in college sports the NCAA does not track the number of athletes whose day-to-day activities include caring for a dependent a 2020 study from the National Center for Education Statistics found 19.5% of undergraduate college students had a dependent and 5.5% of them were responsible for non-child dependents. Other research shows student-caregivers are disproportionately from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups.Ray Ray McElrathbey was a 19-year-old freshman at Clemson in 2006 when he took over custody of his 10-year-old brother because of his mother’s drug problems and his father’s gambling addiction. Initially, they lived solely off McElrathbey’s scholarship and later the NCAA approved a plan where donations were administered by a local bank and distributed to Ray and Fahmarr. His story was the subject of “Safety,” a Disney movie.When McElrathbey was a child and saw “Angels in the Outfield,” it inspired him because he felt there were other children out there like him. These days, he does speaking engagements and shares his message of hope with young people.”Just kind to speak to those kids in a similar situation like I was growing up and have them have something to inspire them is the greatest gift,” he said.Tufts University professor Emma Armstrong-Carter, who has done research on children caregivers, said these young people show amazing strength and don’t want to be pitied.”Isn’t it incredible that these young people are able to overcome so many challenges and support their families in ways that are necessary and meaningful?” Armstrong-Carter said. “There’s a need for more institutional support to help them thrive.”Smith and his family are able to afford renting a house in the state capital, paying for utilities, bills, food and ride-hailing services thanks to waves of financial support. The GoFundMe effort has raised more than $60,000, and he makes some money through name, image and likeness deals. Michigan State has helped through a student assistance fund. Two fundraisers were hosted at a McDonald’s in Lansing and an IHOP in Livonia set up by former Michigan State football players Jason Strayhorn and Sedrick Irvin and promoted on their “This is Sparta MSU” podcast.Road trips are part of the calendar and the Spartans don’t play two home games in a row until the end of the season in November, though two bye weekends will give Smith more time at home. One of his mother’s close friends, Yolanda Wilson, whose son, Nick Marsh, is a standout freshman receiver and former high school teammate, has been a source of support.”I’m going to be there no matter what,” she said. “That’s a promise I made to their mother. And they have everybody here backing them up. So, it’s going to be a hard transition as it is, but we’re going to be that tight-knit community and have their back.”The love is not lost on Smith.”Me and my family are very happy, very appreciative and grateful,” he said. “There’s a lot of love Spartan Nation has shown us these past few months. It’s been a rough time, but to be able to take some of the stress off of my shoulders and show me a lot of love is a blessing and has warmed my heart.”When Smith gave The Associated Press access to his home one recent evening, three siblings were upstairs in their bedrooms while a teenage brother was napping on a sectional couch in a living room without a TV or table. His toddler sister giggled between drinks from a sippy cup.”It just puts a smile on my face to see them happy,” he said while watching video clips from practice on his phone.Smith’s sadness comes and goes, but he knows his mother would want him to carry on.”I can feel her living through me,” he said. “Almost like I hear her voice telling me how proud she is of me.”

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Small Business Funding

Heres whats in the government funding agreement [Video]

House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a spending bill Sunday that will avert a government shutdown if it is passed by both the House and Senate before funding runs out on Sept. 30.Johnson said in a letter to lawmakers that he does not want a shutdown weeks before the election. But he also stressed that the legislation will be a very narrow, bare-bones CR (continuing resolution) including only the extensions that are absolutely necessary.The spending plan, known as a limited continuing resolution, has bipartisan support.The top Democrats in Congress, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, praised bipartisan negotiations that led to a funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills and signaled swift passage of the stopgap bill ahead of the deadline.Still, even with a possible deal, the federal government will start preparing for a potential shutdown of nonessential operations this week, which could affect millions of federal workers and military personnel, as well as impact important functions such as Head Start, border security and lending programs, among others.Congress rarely passes funding bills on time, but the U.S. legislative branch had to pass a series of continuing resolutions raising shutdown fears each time before finally approving measures in March to fully fund the government for the current fiscal year.Maintain government funding through December 20The bill will keep the government up and running for about three more months, through Dec. 20.The extension will avoid the potential for a government shutdown before the November election but sets up a showdown over a full spending package just before the Christmas holiday.Provide more money for the Secret ServiceThe bill includes an additional $231 million for the Secret Service to help the agency protect the 2024 presidential candidates.The boost in funding follows a second apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Sept. 15 at his Florida golf club. The previous assassination attempt against Trump occurred in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.The incidents have sparked scrutiny of the Secret Service. Kimberly Cheatle, resigned as director of the agency a day after testifying before lawmakers about the July assassination attempt.The new funds for the Secret Service wont be made available until the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, sends a requested report to the House committee tasked with investigating the first assassination attempt.The additional money will remain available until Sept. 30, 2025.Exclude a noncitizen voting measure and disaster fundingJohnson previously introduced a six-month GOP government funding plan that included a controversial measure targeting noncitizen voting, an effort pushed by Trump despite the fact that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.The former president had called for a government shutdown if lawmakers could not get the voting measure, known as the SAVE Act, passed into law.The House failed to pass that spending bill on Wednesday, and the voting measure was not included in the bill released Sunday.Sundays stopgap measure also does not include an additional $10 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief funding which is running out of money after multiple catastrophic events this year that Johnson had included in the six-month version. But the legislation does allow the agency to speed up its use of the funds made available in the continuing resolution for necessary response and recovery activities. CNNs Lauren Fox and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.

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Small Business Funding

VIDEO REPORT: Eagles hand Saints first loss in thriller inside Superdome [Video]

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS COACH DENNIS ALLEN”Disappointing loss for us. I don’t think we played as well as we are capable of playing, yet you have to give those guys credit. They beat us today, and we had our opportunities. I don’t think we played, obviously, as well on offense as we had played the first two weeks. Give their defense credit. Defensively, we just gave up too many explosive plays. That was really the key to the game is the explosive plays that we gave up and really kind of our inability to move the ball offensively.”On the last explosive play by the Eagles:”We ran into each other. We kind of knew that (Dallas Goedert) was the guy they were going to try to throw the ball to. We had a double on him, and we just ran into each other, creating an explosive play. Yeah, it’s disappointing.”On facing quarterback Jalen Hurts:”I think it is extremely hard. He is a heck of an athlete, a really good football player. He makes it challenging on every single down, and I thought he executed well today.”On Erik McCoy’s injury early in the game:”It’s a big blow. I think he’s an important part of our offensive line and the way that we play up front. It was difficult to lose him, yet it is part of the game. We have to be able to step up and still play at an acceptable level when we lost guys like that.”On the adjustments that have to be made when losing a center:”It’s difficult, both from a mental standpoint and that guy making sure we’re getting onto the right people and doing the right things, not to mention the fact that he’s probably one of our better players on our offensive line. I think that was certainly a factor in the game, yet we have to be able to still perform.”On what he saw on the last explosive play with Goedert:”I think as the game went on I felt like they were trying to find ways to get him the ball, particularly after DeVonta Smith went out of the game. I thought that was the guy they were trying to get the ball to.”On the Eagles’ 65-yard touchdown run by Saquon Barkley:”I’m going to have to look at the tape to see exactly what happened on that. At the end of the day, the kid made a great run, and once he got into space, he’s a hard guy to catch, a hard guy to get down.”On his decision to go for it on fourth down at the start of the fourth quarter:”It was trying to win the game. I felt like we needed to be able to get a yard.”On why he didn’t challenge the play:”It’s technically a turnover, so you can’t challenge. New York looked at it, and it stayed.”On the offensive struggles after the first drive:”Listen, I think they did a good job. When you look at it, I think they did a better job up front than we did. I think that’s really where it started. Again, that’s a good football team that we played today. It’s a team that was in the Super Bowl two years ago, and they started the season 10-1 last year. It’s a good team; they beat us today. We have to regroup and get ready for Atlanta.”On if the run game struggled because of the battle at the line:”I think it starts up there (in the trenches). As you get back in and watch the tape, we’ll have a better feel for exactly what the issues were. I don’t think we were as good, from an assignment standpoint across the board today. I think we made too many mistakes, and when you play a good team and you make mistakes, they take advantage of it. I thought they did that today.”On if Taysom Hill was close to playing:”We ended up deciding to rule him out. I’m hopeful he will be able to go next week.”On if Derek Carr was injured in the game:”It looked like he took a shot on the last play, but I didn’t get any report from the trainers on him.”On if Demario Davis was injured in the game:”There at the end of the game, he had a little hamstring or groin tightness.”On how his team responded to the adversity it faced in the game today:”Well, I’d say not good enough, yet we gave ourselves some chances. They just executed better than we did. We have to get ready to make some corrections and get ready for Atlanta.”On if the run game struggles and the injury to McCoy was the reason for the failed fourth down attempt:”I think we have to get a yard. I don’t think that weighed into the decision one way or the other. Like I said, I think they just executed better than we did.”QUARTERBACK DEREK CARROn his injury status at the end of the game:”I just got the wind knocked out of me. I was fine. (I) Just needed a minute, but I’m good.”On offensive struggles:”I think they did a good job mixing up their fronts. They had a lot of dudes on the line of scrimmage, really set out to stop the run and they did a good job. You have to give credit to them. They made more plays than we did, we as an offense. I start with myself. I wasn’t perfect in all of my stuff, and you go back and you’ve got to correct it. You knew adversity would happen at some point. It’s not going to be that easy all the time. For us, it’s a great opportunity. You get hit in the mouth, and with that said, I thought we responded to a tough, gritty game. It wasn’t all just bombs and this kind of stuff. We had to grind it out a little bit, and still make plays at the end and all that kind of stuff. And at the very end, they made one more play than we did, and that’s just how this game goes sometimes. There’s no discouragement or anything like that. You’re pissed because you lost, you’re mad at that. You want to win all these games, but at the end of the day we played a really good football team and we knew what type of team they were. You turn the film on and we knew what we were going to get ourselves into. It was a grind, but they made more plays than we did.”On losing center Erik McCoy:”Yeah, it’s hard, especially for communication and things like that, but I thought Lucas (Patrick) did a fantastic job. He’s a veteran, super smart, he’s been in this system in different varieties. I thought he did a great job. Obviously, any time you lose anybody on a football team, you never can just replace them. They bring a certain role, they bring a certain piece of the puzzle, but it’s always next man up and I thought those guys battled. I thought they did a great job battling against one of the better fronts in our league.”On Eagles’ preparedness for Saints’ offense/studying film:”It could be. That’s throughout the season, there’d different ebbs and flows of that. Coaches switching things and changing things, all of that. Again, you’ve got to give credit to their players and to their coaches. They beat us today, and as players and coaches we take that personal. But we still believe and we know we’re a good football team. The belief is so strong in that room. Disappointed, because we want it real bad and we really believed we were going to pull that one out, but we didn’t. So for us it’s about staying positive, but making the corrections that we have to make and working on it during this week.”On attempted pass to Rashid Shaheed in the first half:”I thought it was close, but he’s made so many of those plays for me. I’m going to keep throwing to him whenever he gets an opportunity. I trust my receivers so much. It was close, but that’s football sometimes.”On the interception on the last drive:”At the very end someone just came free, and in that situation a sack is terrible. I was trying to just make a tight throw, hopefully that he would look for me as I was getting hit. I wish I had just tried to skip it, whatever, get to the next play, but in that situation with the clock and how many yards we needed to get, I just tried to make that play for our team and I didn’t. I tried to stand in there and make a throw, and they ended up making the play.”On what the team can learn about themselves from this game:”This is a great opportunity for us to come in tomorrow and see if we bring that same energy that we’ve been bringing, but bring it to some more corrections, bring it into some things. Everyone’s going to look at this tape and it’s going to hurt, man, because you’re going to see things like ‘What the heck did I do there? Why did I do that?’ And again I say it, but that’s football. The teams that continue over this long race continue to improve. It’s a race to see who can improve the most towards the end, and it’s a great opportunity for us to look at some different fronts we hadn’t seen this year, to see some different kind of games, different kind of routes, different kind of throws for me, coverage, all of that, for me to be better than I was the last time. My commitment to this team and this organization is to be hard on myself and push our guys in the same way. That we look at it just like we look at it after a win. You’re hard on each other, and you’ve got to be hard on each other especially after this loss so we can be better.”On not having as much success with the run game as in the first two weeks:”They did a good job. We had some good runs and we still were able to make some adjustments and have some really good runs, and I thought the pass game, too. There were some play actions I thought were good. I don’t want to overdo it. Coach (Jon) Gruden always told me ‘We didn’t lose, we just ran out of time.’ They beat us today, and we ran out of time on that one. I thought we were making good adjustments and started moving the ball well, so my confidence is high. Anytime you don’t start off hot it’s a grind a little bit, but I thought we handled it well.”On the Chris Olave touchdown pass:”Cover zero. They had the safety matched up on Chris, and for us, that’s a great matchup. Just throwing it to my spot, and he ran it down like he always does and made that play.”On the crowd volume:”It was electric. That was a playoff atmosphere, when we get to play in one of those, but it felt like that. That was amazing. We need them all year, because that’s such an advantage for us. The fans were fantastic. That was awesome. Hopefully (we will) make some corrections and give them more stuff to cheer about.”On emotional swing of touchdown to then being back down:”In this game, most of these games, mostly every time, it comes down to one possession. You score when there’s time on the clock, the other team always has a chance. For me, I’ve tried my best to try and stay even keeled. Obviously you’re excited, and then when they score you’ve got to stay still ready to go, make your next read, and make the next throw. It really is a microcosm of what a football season is like, you’ve got to stay like this. You’ve got to trust your process, keep working, and enjoy the process, too.”More on losing center Erik McCoy:”Again, anytime you lose anybody on a football team, you don’t just replace somebody. They bring a certain gift, they bring a certain talent and ability, leadership. But with that said, I thought Lucas (Patrick) did a great job. Again, I get work with him, too, during the week just in case something like this ever happens. You lose a guy like Erik and it hurts. He’s a captain, he’s a leader of our football team, so it hurts, but with football that stuff happens all the time. It’s next man up, and you’ve got to be able to pick right back up and the expectation doesn’t change. But I thought Lucas did a fantastic job of really listening to and communicating to the young guys, new coming in. Just watching him communicate. He’s a true pro, he’s a true leader, and I’m glad we have him.”SAFETY TYRANN MATHIEUOn the loss:”It’s frustrating. Hat’s off to those guys. They made the plays when it mattered the most. You can play great defense for 55 minutes, and for five minutes, it can kind of get away from you. We will learn from it. It’s still early. We’re still confident in what we can do. Hat’s off to those guys. They executed in those moments.”On the third down conversion to Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert on the game-winning drive:”It’s one of those situations where we are in man-to-man defense. It doesn’t matter if it’s third and 90 (yards) or third and three. We believe in us. Like I said, hat’s off to those guys. They executed. Clearly, they practice that particular play because we got that exact play maybe three or four times. I missed one tackle. Then, the next time we had three or four guys running into each other. Hat’s off to those guys. They executed in a critical moment.”On what it does for the team to experience this adversity:”Adversity is a builder of life. You cannot go through life and expect great things without hiccups, without setbacks, without adversity. It sucks. We poured our hearts out into the game. We sacrifice a lot to get to Sunday, and we want to be able to win. It’s not just for us, but it’s for everybody. It doesn’t always go your way, but the positive is that there are a lot of great teams (and) a lot of great people that wouldn’t be great without hard times. Yeah, we’ve got another game next week, a divisional game, so we can’t sulk in this too long.”On Jalen Hurts’ ability:”He’s an athlete. Year after year, a lot of guys come into this league at the quarterback position. A few of them are much more than quarterbacks; they are great athletes. Obviously, his team believes in him. He believes in himself. He has played in a lot of big football games. So, hat’s off to those guys. Like I said, they executed in the most critical moments of the game. It hurts. It sucks, but it is a part of it.”On defensive stops in the red zone:”We always want to take the ball away and try our best to limit teams to three (points) when they get to the red zone. It doesn’t always go our way, but outside of a couple of third downs, I thought that we played hard. I thought that we played fast. There’s a couple of moments in the game where we kind of broke down as a defense. We will learn from it. The coaches will learn from it. Us, as players, we’ll learn from it. We’ll be ready for Atlanta next week.”On Saquon Barkley’s 65-yard touchdown run:”We were in cover zero and we got beat. It’s like once he got past the first level, it was off to the races. Great play by him. They blocked it up pretty well. He kind of cut back to the left and there was nobody there. Great vision by him. Obviously, we want to make that play, we want to make that tackle. He made a great play. He made a great move.”On if the defense overran on the on the Barkley 65-yard run:”Nobody overran it. We were blitzing from the left. He got the ball and cut back to the left and nobody was there. He ran bubble slant to the field, so all those guys were in man-to-man so they were following their man. Once he rolled off the tackle, it’s just paint. All you see is end zone.”On the teams talking to each other on the field late in the game:”It’s an intense game and emotions get high. Obviously, it was a one point game for a while there. Defensively, obviously, we want to defend our home field. Me and Latt (Marshon Lattimore), we should never go to those guys’ sideline. So, we will learn from that. It happens to all of us, where emotions get the best of us. We didn’t really hear it much from those guys all game until they went up at the end. We will just be looking forward to playing again against those guys, hopefully.”

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Small Business Funding

Swiss vote on pensions and environment protections [Video]

Switzerland may be associated with pristine natural landscapes, but environmentalists sounding the alarm over its endangered ecosystems are urging voters to back broader biodiversity protections in a referendum Sunday. That proposal appears set to fail, according to opinion polls, while the Swiss are also set to reject a planned reform of the financing of the

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Small Business Funding

Miami QB tops 15,000 yards passing for collegiate career [Video]

Big changes are coming to college football starting in 2025. The University of Tennessee will introduce *** 10% talent fee on football season tickets. With that revenue going directly to paying players. UTS. Athletic director, Danny White says this tighter link between resources and success is key to staying competitive ticket prices will also go up by 4.5% bringing the total increase to 14.5%. According to *** UT spokesperson who spoke to business insider, the talent fee will cover only 33% of player pay with the university funding. The rest ut says this decision is in preparation for the house versus NCAA case which could reshape athlete compensation by July 2025. So while fans may be paying *** bit more, they’ll be directly supporting the players on the field.