adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

News

Alouettes clinch home playoff date with 24-12 win over Redblacks

Published

 on

OTTAWA – The Montreal Alouettes want to give themselves every advantage heading down the stretch and Saturday’s 24-12 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks was a big step forward.

With the win the Alouettes (11-2-1) remain unbeaten on the road (6-0-1) and clinched a home playoff game. They were also the first team to beat Ottawa (8-5-1) at TD Place snapping their unbeaten home streak (6-1-1).

“A win’s a win, but sometimes when you say it’s a big game all week, I mean, they feel a little differently,” said Alouettes head coach Jason Maas. “As the season progresses there’s things that these games mean for us and, obviously, this one meant a lot for where we are in the standings.”

Maas pointed out the importance of being seven points up on second-place Ottawa and wanting the opportunity to play in front of their home fans in the post-season.

“We love to be able to do that, so it’s an accomplished goal.”

Ottawa was looking to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2018 but are now facing a two-game losing streak for the first time this season. Things could get even more difficult.

Already playing without a number of key starters, the Redblacks also lost starting quarterback Dru Brown, who aggravated an ankle injury late in the second quarter. They also lost wide receiver Eli Stove (knee), OL Drake Centers (shoulder), DB’s Ty Cranston (stinger in arm), Brandin Dandridge (knee) and Alonzo Addae (knee).

Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce didn’t use injuries as an excuse admitting his team made too many mistakes and took too many penalties — 11 for 137 yards.

“They certainly took advantage of our mistakes and didn’t make big enough ones on their end to cost them the game,” said Dyce. “So, I’m not going to take any credit away from Montreal. They’re a very good team, very well coached team, but on the opposite side of that, there’s things that if we play clean football, that we talk about playing, I believe the result would have been different.”

Brown was 8-for-16 for 69 yards with two interceptions before Jeremiah Masoli finished the game going 17-for-26 in passing for 218 yards and one touchdown.

Ottawa’s Lewis Ward kicked field goals from 18 and 46 yards.

Montreal quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 16 of 27 pass attempts for 226 yards and scored a rushing touchdown.

“This felt like a playoff game,” said Fajardo. “Our defence played incredible, our special teams played awesome and our offence did enough to win the football game. We’ve just got to clean some things up and I think we’re well on our way.”

Fajardo added that it was at a similar time last year that the team started getting hot and rode it into the playoffs and it’s time for a repeat performance.

Alouettes kicker Jose Maltos scored field goals from 17, 13 and 30 yards. A 30-yarder by Maltos midway through the fourth quarter stretched Montreal’s lead to a dozen points.

Ottawa finally found the red zone when Masoli connected with Justin Hardy on a 25-yard touchdown pass, but fell short on the two-point conversion to start the second half. It was Hardy’s fourth TD of the season for a career high.

“It’s frustrating,” admitted Masoli. “We put in a hard week of work and then come out and not play to our standard. It’s definitely frustrating because you see the guys putting in the effort and the want every day. We didn’t really show up for four quarters today. You know, we kind of dug ourselves a hole early on.”

The Redblacks trailed 20-6 at halftime.

Brown’s two early interceptions set the tone, with Montreal’s Dionte Ruffin returning one for a 79-yard touchdown. Brown was picked off again on his next drive.

Ottawa finally got down field, but settled for an 18-yard field goal to trail 7-3 after the first quarter.

Montreal then scored a punt single and Fajardo followed it up with a one-yard dash to score, followed by 17-yard field goal by Maltos.

Ward kicked a 46-yard field goal for Ottawa and Maltos countered from 13 yards in the second quarter.

UP NEXT

Redblacks: Visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-7-1) next Saturday.

Alouettes: Visit the Toronto Argonauts (7-7) next Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

 on

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

China is bracing for fresh tensions with Trump over trade, tech and Taiwan

Published

 on

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The first time China faced Donald Trump in the White House, there was a trade war, a breach of protocol involving Taiwan’s former leader, and a president-to-president bromance that turned sour.

As President-elect Trump prepares to start his second term in office, China is bracing for unpredictability in its ties with the United States and renewed tensions over trade, technology and Taiwan.

A new tariff war looms

Perhaps the biggest consequence for China — if Trump stays true to his campaign promises — is his threat to slap blanket 60% tariffs on all Chinese exports to the U.S.

Tariffs like that would be a blow to China’s already unstable economy, which is suffering from high youth unemployment, a lengthy property slump and government debt. A 60% duty on Chinese imports could shave off 2.5 percentage points, or about half, of China’s projected economic growth, according to an analysis published earlier this year by UBS.

During Trump’s previous term in office, the U.S. imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion of Chinese products. That brought Beijing to the negotiating table, and in 2020 the two sides signed a trade deal in which China committed to improve intellectual property rights and buy an extra $200 billion of American goods. A research group a couple of years later showed China had bought essentially none of the goods it had promised.

President Joe Biden retained most of those tariffs and added fresh duties this year on imports including steel, solar cells and electric vehicles.

Like last time, tariffs could serve as a tool to force Beijing back to the negotiating table, said Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University who focuses on international trade.

“Given the weak economic position of China this time, I think there will be more willingness to talk,” he said. “Thus, while the tariff might have some short-term effects on the Chinese economy, the situation might improve once they reach a deal.”

Factoring into the trade talks could be Trump’s appeals to Chinese President Xi Jinping to help negotiate a resolution to the Ukraine war, which Trump has boasted he’ll be able to do quickly, without saying how.

Trump previously sought Xi’s help in dealing with North Korea’s rogue leader Kim Jong Un. That dynamic could repeat itself, with Trump weighing trade grievances against seeking China’s support in global crises, according to Wang Huiyao, founder of the Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization.

“China is the largest trading partner of both Russia and Ukraine,” Wang wrote in a recent commentary. “These close economic ties give China a unique opportunity to play a greater role in peace-making efforts.”

Willing to go ‘crazy’ over Taiwan

There is one scenario in which Trump has threatened to impose even higher tariffs — 150% to 200% — on Chinese goods: if China invades Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

The U.S. does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but is its strongest backer and biggest arms provider.

Trump angered Beijing in December 2016 by taking a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s then-president Tsai Ing-wen in a breach of diplomatic protocol. No U.S. president had spoken directly to a Taiwanese leader since Washington and Beijing established ties in 1979.

Trump’s move created anxiety in China-watching circles, but ultimately, he stuck to supporting the status quo in relations between Taipei and Beijing.

China expects him to continue to do so, said Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Relations at Nanjing University.

“Will (he) want to turn to support Taiwan independence? It is unlikely,” he said.

As for China’s repeated threats to annex Taiwan, Trump told The Wall Street Journal last month that he would not have to use military force to prevent a blockade of Taiwan because Xi “respects me and he knows I’m (expletive) crazy.”

On the campaign trail, Trump sometimes talked up his personal connection with Xi, which started exuberantly during his first term but soured over disputes about trade and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Trump has also said that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defending it against China, likening the relationship to insurance. Taiwan spends about 2.5% of its GDP on defense, and purchased hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weapons this year.

Trump has purposely maintained a sense of uncertainty in his relationship with China, said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

“We are clear about the challenges,” he said. “As for opportunities, we are yet to see them clearly.”

Disputes over chips

During his first term, Trump began targeting Chinese technology firms over security concerns, focusing on large companies like the telecoms giant Huawei. Biden continued in that direction by placing curbs on China’s access to advanced semiconductors, which are needed to develop strategic industries such as artificial intelligence.

But Trump has criticized Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan bill that earmarked $53 billion to build up domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. Currently, Taiwan produces nearly 90% of the world’s supply of the most advanced chips.

The island’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC, expanded production in Arizona, partly to respond to the CHIPS Act, and to be prepared to withstand any other protectionist policies in the U.S., said Shihoko Goto, director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the Wilson Center.

Trump has promised to do away with the CHIPS Act, though critics say that would undermine his campaign to reindustrialize the U.S. The president-elect has also accused Taiwan of “stealing” the chip industry from the U.S. decades ago.

“Rather than providing a silicon shield, Taiwan’s dominance in the chip industry could actually be the source of tension between Taipei and Trump, as Taiwan’s successes in the chip sector may be seen as having only been possible as a result of the United States being taken advantage of,” Goto said.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

In this Florida school district, some parents are pushing back against a cellphone ban

Published

 on

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — It’s no surprise that students are pushing back on cellphone bans in classrooms. But school administrators in one South Florida county working to pull students’ eyes away from their screens are facing some resistance from another group as well – parents.

Since the beginning of the 2024 school year in August, students in Broward County Public Schools, the country’s sixth largest district, have been barred from using cellphones during the school day, including during lunch and breaks, unless given special permission.

The schools are some of the many across the country wrestling with how to crack down on cellphones, at a time when experts say social media use among young people is nearly universal – and that screen time is linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression among kids.

But a survey sent out by the South Florida school district earlier this fall found that of the more than 70,000 students, teachers and parents surveyed, nearly one in five parents believe the cellphone ban is having a negative impact on their student’s wellbeing.

Among the top concerns for the students and parents surveyed is not being able to communicate with their family members, especially in an emergency — an anxiety that cuts deep in the district that’s home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a 2018 shooting killed 17 people.

District officials have said students can use their phones during an emergency and that teachers have the flexibility to grant kids access for other reasons too.

“I don’t think any of us thinks kids should be on their phones during class,” said Erin Gohl, a parent and advocate in the district.

“We’re really talking about giving kids tools during those times when they need it,” she added, including letting students use their phones for “positive mental health purposes”.

Officials in the Fort Lauderdale-area district have acknowledged that implementation of the policy has been inconsistent. Some teachers have struggled to monitor students’ phone use, and are facing the reality that for some kids, phones can be a needed tool to access online lessons and turn in assignments, especially for those who don’t have a school-issued laptop. And parents have argued their students are better off with their phones, helping them coordinate afternoon pickup times or text their parents for advice about a school bully.

“I don’t expect students to say — or parents of high schoolers to say — right, that, they don’t want their kids to have cellphones,” said Howard Hepburn, Broward superintendent of schools. “The expectation that we’re going to just have a hard stop is not reality. It takes time.”

Landyn Spellberg, a student advisor to the Broward school board, said there are a lot of benefits to phones — and that the district’s blanket ban isn’t helping students with something many adults still struggle with: learning how to use technology in a healthy way.

“I think it’s important that we teach students about the negatives,” he said. “We don’t inform students of those things.”

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending