Review: Though earnest and visually dazzling, 'Moana 2' is more dull than so shiny (2024)

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The “Egg Lady” won’t take “no” for an answer.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has credited heroin with previously helping him improve his performance in school, according to a resurfaced clip that’s been circulating on social media.

Trump’s USDA pick could focus on foreign investments in agricultural land

MIAMI — Will a new conservative tide in Miami-Dade County wash fluoride out of the drinking water, too?

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors are opposing Mayor Eric Adams’ request for an early start to his criminal trial on corruption charges, citing a shift in his stance on whether he should be able to review classified material gathered by investigators as part of his case.

Former TV host Charlie Rose has resolved a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by three women in the wake of his #MeToo-era ouster from CBS News in 2017 and the cancellation of his long-running, eponymous PBS talk show. In settling, the plaintiffs said they assign no “ill intent” to Rose and realize now that his conduct could be subject to interpretation. Lawyers for Rose and the women filed court papers this week confirming that the lawsuit has been resolved. An online court docket listed the case as settled. The terms were not disclosed. The lawsuit had been set to go to trial Monday in Manhattan.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Brock Purdy‘s shoulder again restricted him from throwing and Dre Greenlaw made a much-anticipated debut from an Achilles tear, but those weren’t even Wednesday’s most jarring health updates for the injury-riddled 49ers.

San Francisco 49ers star linebacker Fred Warner revealed that he has been playing through a broken bone in his ankle since September. Warner said the injury happened in the first half of San Francisco’s win in Week 4 against the New England Patriots. Warner sat out the second half of that game and was on the injury report for the next two weeks but didn’t miss any time. Warner says he has gotten pain-killing shots before each game since then and has played through the injury.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings are signing quarterback Daniel Jones to their practice squad, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Bolivia’s highest court has approved the extradition to the United States of a former anti-narcotics chief on charges of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. Wednesday's rare ruling, which cannot be appealed, caps the rapid downfall of Maximiliano Dávila-Perez, 59, Bolivia’s top drug cop in 2019 under former leftist President Evo Morales, the first Indigenous President of Bolivia who became a global anti-imperialist icon for expelling the U.S. ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008. Relations between Bolivia and Washington have been strained ever since. A former police colonel, Dávila-Perez was indicted in 2022 in New York on federal charges of conspiring to import cocaine to the U.S. and possessing machine guns.

The first Thanksgiving?

Brandon Crawford, arguably the greatest shortstop in the history of the San Francisco Giants, announced his retirement on Instagram.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Assemblyman Kevin McCarty has declared victory in the race to become Sacramento’s next mayor, but his opponent Flojaune Cofer, says she’s not conceding in the election until every vote is counted.

A jury in New Mexico awarded $412 million to a man who sued over what he said were unnecessary erectile dysfunction shots that decimated his penis, court documents and his attorneys said.

Johni Broome scored 21 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead No. 4 Auburn to the Maui Invitational championship with a 90-76 win over Memphis. Auburn opened the game with a 9-0 run spurred by Broome’s 3-pointer from the right wing just 22 seconds in. Broome had 15 points and 11 rebounds by halftime and finished 8 of 15 from the field with six assists and four blocks. Dylan Cardwell shot 8 of 8 from the field and finished with 18 points. Chad Baker-Mazara added 14 points and Denver Jones chipped in 11 points for Auburn. PJ Haggerty led Memphis with 27 points.

No matter the stakes or the personalities involved, the fabled intersectional meeting between Notre Dame and Southern California remains one of the most tantalizing Saturdays on every college football calendar. It’s even better when both the Fighting Irish and the Trojans are in the national title race, of course. But the rivals will settle for the interesting stakes of this meeting. No. 5 Notre Dame is one win away from an 11-1 regular season and a prime spot in the first 12-team playoff. The Fighting Irish just need to add one more disappointment to a lost season for the Trojans.

Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail once again Wednesday after a third contentious hearing on his possible pre-trial release.

Coronavirus cases have been flat locally, likely due to the outsized surge that occurred this past summer, but the flu appears to be ramping up on its traditional trajectory, indicating that the latest spike of cases will be seen in late December and early January.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s 13th Congressional District seat is the last uncalled national race in the country, and it’s tight. As counting winds down, Rep. John Duarte and Adam Gray are in an even closer contest than in their previous matchup.

A 22-year-old found dead in the front seat of his car had taken protonitazene pills, a drug “more powerful than fentanyl,” before his death, California prosecutors said.

Alabama A&M linebacker Medrick Burnett Jr. remains hospitalized with a head injury suffered in an October game, the school said hours after announcing that he had died. The athletic department sent out a retraction Wednesday on the status of Burnett, who was injured in a game against Alabama State on Oct. 26. The second statement said that the initial news of Burnett’s death came “from an immediate family member on Tuesday evening.” The school said a representative of UAB Hospital in Birmingham said that he “remains in stable condition.”

Lamar Jackson has almost never lost against the NFC. This week he faces a major challenge. Baltimore’s matchup with Philadelphia on Sunday pits the Ravens’ top-ranked offense against the Eagles’ No. 1-ranked defense. It may be the biggest test this season of Jackson’s dominance against the NFC. He’s 23-1 as a starter against teams from that conference — but Philadelphia arrives in Baltimore this weekend with a seven-game winning streak and a formidable defensive front.

The resurgent and rested New Orleans Saints will try to improve to 3-0 under interim coach Darren Rizzi when they host the Los Angeles Rams this weekend. The Rams are coming off a 37-20 loss to Philadelphia last Sunday night. The Rams allowed 314 yards rushing in that game and now must brace for a Saints offense that rushed for 214 yards in its previous game. The Saints had last week off after defeating Cleveland 35-14 on Nov. 17. The home team has won each of the past nine regular-season games in the Rams-Saints series. New Orleans has won its past two games in the Superdome. The Rams won 30-22 when these teams met in Los Angeles last season.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has proclaimed himself in favor of mining gold in the Central America country and called his nation’s 7-year-old ban on metals mining “absurd.” It immediately puts in jeopardy the historic prohibition. He wrote on the social platform X Wednesday that the unmined gold would be “wealth that could transform El Salvador.” Bukele’s party controls El Salvador’s Congress by a wide margin and his political opposition has been devastated, so a formal proposal to end the ban is unlikely to meet much resistance. In 2017, El Salvador banned all metals mining above ground and below.

Reigan Richardson scored a career-high 35 points to lead No. 13 Duke past No. 8 Oklahoma 109-99 in overtime on Wednesday in the championship game of the Ball Dawgs Classic. Oklahoma overcame a first-half, 15-point deficit to tie the game with 4:45 left in the game, and forced overtime with Payton Verhulst’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. But Duke outscored the Sooners 15-5 in the extra stanza. Richardson was named the tournament MVP.

PSV Eindhoven was giving thanks to its United States internationals in the Champions League. Trailing 2-0 in the 87th minute at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, there seemed no way back for the Netherlands team in red and white striped jerseys until its American stars stepped up. They scored three goals in eight minutes for a memorable 3-2 win. Malik Tillman scored direct from a free kick taken out wide and a rifled shot from outside the penalty area. In the fifth minute of stoppage time Ricardo Pepi scored from a loose ball in the goalmouth.

Led by Cooper Schwieger's 17 points, the Valparaiso Beacons defeated the Northern Illinois Huskies 87-82 on Wednesday night. The Beacons improved to 4-2 with the win and the Huskies fell to 2-5.

Tafara Gapare scored 19 points, freshman Derik Queen had 15 points and eight rebounds and Maryland beat Bucknell 91-67. Maryland opened the game on a 15-2 run, extended it to 25-7 with 10:38 left and led 51-28 at the break. The Terrapins led by at least 16 points the entire second half, which included runs of 12-0 and 9-0. Gapare scored the 10 straight points during the second-half run. Gapare threw down a highlight dunk while being fouled with 2:08 remaining to give Maryland an 89-62 lead. He was called for a technical foul after stepping over Patrick O’Brien, who was attempting to take a charge. Jayden Williams made the two free throws for Bucknell and Gapare missed his free-throw attempt that would have tied his career high.

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has yet to produce a certified vote tally for a single district almost a month after holding general elections. Then on Wednesday, a judge issued a ruling that sparked an outcry and threatened to further delay the certification process as the Jan. 2 swearing in looms. The judge, in response to a lawsuit, ordered Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission to count early votes following ID verification even if the postal address used to request those votes is different from the one in the general voter registration.

Clemson reserve guard Trent Howard will miss the 12th-ranked Tigers game with No. 16 South Carolina this week after tearing the ACL in his left knee at practice this week. Howard had filled in the past two weeks and started last week's win over The Citadel due to injuries to his linemates. The 6-foot-3, 295-pound Howard was listed on the team's depth chart as backup at left and right guard. The Tigers are 9-2 and seeking a fourth straight win over the 8-3 Gamecocks on Saturday.

Liverpool stayed perfect in the Champions League. A 2-0 win at Anfield dumped title holder Real Madrid into an almost unbelievable 24th place in the 36-team standings. Liverpool's second half ghoals came from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo, either side of Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappé having a penalty saved. Borussia Dortmund, is up to fourth place after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0. Monaco missed a chance to go second losing 3-2 at home to Benfica. The best comeback was at PSV Eindhoven. Te home team trailed Shakhtar Donetsk by two goals in the 87th minute of a 3-2 win.

Los Angeles Chargers running back J.K Dobbins is unlikely to play this week against the Atlanta Falcons because of a knee injury. Dobbins was hurt in the first half of the Chargers’ 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday declined to get into specifics of the injury, other than confirming Dobbins is “working through something with his knee,” he said.

A police car drove into the rear of a limousine transporting New Zealand's Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, in Wellington, officials said. The crash was minor and no one was hurt, police said Thursday. No members of the public were involved. The crash took place on Wednesday afternoon local time on the main road towards the airport in Wellington, New Zealand's capital, where the parliament is located. Police have launched an investigation into the collision. The agency that manages official vehicles says the rear of the limousine was damaged. Luxon told reporters Thursday he was “fine.”

Led by CJ Happy's 18 points, the Princeton Tigers defeated the Nazareth Golden Flyers 99-63 on Wednesday night. The Tigers are now 6-3 on the season.

Led by Tariq Francis' 23 points, the NJIT Highlanders defeated the Morehead State Eagles 78-69 on Wednesday night. The Highlanders improved to 1-7 with the win and the Eagles fell to 2-4.

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Trying to limit widespread pollution and violent threats to their employees, board members of Silicon Valley’s largest water agency late Tuesday approved a new ordinance to ban camping along 295 miles of creeks in San Jose and other parts of Santa Clara County.

It's the top-ranked offense in the NFL against the No. 1 defense when Baltimore hosts Philadelphia this weekend. The running back matchup between Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley is a highlight as well. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson has thrown only three interceptions this season, but the Eagles lead the league with 46 points off turnovers since Week 8. Henry and Barkley have both already surpassed 1,300 yards rushing. The past three meetings between these two teams have been decided by a combined four points.

TJ Bamba scored 22 points, Keeshawn Barthelemy added 16 and Oregon defeated San Diego State 78-68 in the Players Era Festival. Barthelemy started a 9-0 run with a jumper and ended it with a 3-pointer as the Ducks took the lead for good at 34-27 late in the first half. Bamba had a three-point play in the surge. Jackson Shelstad hit a 3-pointer and Barthelemy had two free throws in the closing seconds for a 41-31 halftime lead. rebounds. BJ Davis scored 18 points for the Aztecs.

Emi Martinez began the night by walking onto the field with his children and parading a pair of trophies for being the world’s best goalkeeper for the last two years. He finished it by producing an astonishing save that vindicated those awards. The Argentina international illuminated a 0-0 draw between his Aston Villa team and Juventus in the Champions League by plucking the ball from behind him and scooping it off the goal line to deny Francisco Conceição what could have been the winner. Replays showed the ball was almost entirely over the line before Martinez hooked it clear.