Mixing different experiences together usually requires owning a virtual or augmented reality headset, but the latest partnership between Disney, ESPN, and the NBA is changing the tune of the iconic Christmas Day games. This upcoming special broadcast is called "Dunk the Halls," and it will feature some of the most iconic animated characters from Disney to join the basketball game. A massive roster of classic Disney animated characters are coming to the ball game which will also see the hardcourt transform into a renowned location found on the Walt Disney World as part of the experience. Disney, ESPN to Transform NBA's Christmas Day Game This 2024 ESPN announced its latest partnerships to deliver a new kind of animated sports experience that will deliver a new kind of NBA Christmas Day game experience for families worldwide. This three-way partnership between Disney, ESPN, and the NBA is now looking to transform the regular NBA Christmas Day game featuring the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks. According to the release, this will be the first NBA game that will stream on Disney+,... Isaiah Richard
Is Enron back? If it’s a joke, some former employees aren’t laughing
Homeland Security shares new details of mysterious drone flights over New Jersey A New Jersey lawmaker from part of the state where several mysterious drones have been spotted in recent week says the devices appear to avoid detection by traditional methods. Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia was among state officials who met Wednesday with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security. She says lawmakers were told the drones have dodged detection by helicopters and radio. Fantasia says DHS described the devices as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights off. The Morris County Republican made the comments in a post on X shortly after she and several other state and local lawmakers met with state police and Homeland Security officials. Juan Soto gets free luxury suite and up to 4 premium tickets for home games in $765M Mets deal DALLAS (AP) — Juan Soto gets free use of a luxury suite and up to four premium tickets behind home plate for regular-season and postseason New York Mets home games as part of his record $765 million, 15-year contract. The Mets agreed to provide personal team security for the All-Star outfielder and his family at the team’s expense for all spring training and regular-season home and road games, according to details of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press. New York agreed to assist Soto’s family for in-season travel arrangements, guaranteed he gets uniform No. 22 and included eight types of award bonuses. Rape allegation against Jay-Z won’t impact NFL's relationship with music mogul, Goodell says IRVING, Texas (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says a rape allegation against rapper Jay-Z won’t impact the NFL's relationship with the music mogul. Jay-Z's company Roc Nation has produced some of the NFL’s entertainment presentations including the Super Bowl halftime show. A woman who previously sued Sean “Diddy” Combs alleging she was raped at an awards show after-party in 2000 amended the lawsuit Sunday to include an allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault. Jay-Z says the rape allegation made against him is part of an extortion attempt. The NFL teamed up with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019 for events and social activism. The league and the entertainment company extended their partnership a few months ago. Ohio politician proposes make flag planting a felony after fight in Michigan rivalry game An Ohio politician has seen enough flag planting. Republican state Rep. Josh Williams said Wednesday on social media he's introducing a bill to make flag planting in sports a felony in the state. His proposal comes after the Nov. 30 fight at the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry football game when the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 13-10 and then attempted to plant their flag at midfield. A fight ensued and police had to use pepper spray to disperse the players. Former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield famously planted a flag in the middle of the field at Ohio State after the Sooners beat the Buckeyes in 2017. Gastineau confronts Favre in documentary for his 'dive' on Strahan's record-breaking sack Former New York Jets star Mark Gastineau confronted Brett Favre last year at a memorabilia show and angrily accused the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback of deliberately going down on a record-breaking sack. The tense exchange is shown in the new ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “The New York Sack Exchange." It chronicles the Jets’ fearsome foursome defensive line of the 1980s that included Gastineau. Gastineau set an NFL record with 22 sacks in 1984, but Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan broke the mark when he sacked Favre in 2002 in a game between the Giants and Packers. Many have accused Favre of purposely taking the sack so Strahan could set the single-season record with 22 1/2. What happens next with Alex Jones' Infowars? No certainty yet after sale to The Onion is rejected Lawyers in the Alex Jones bankruptcy case are now in discussions on what could happen next after a federal judge in Texas rejected the auction sale of Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet. The next steps remained unclear Wednesday as the judge ordered the trustee who oversaw the auction to come up with a new plan. Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston rejected the bid late Tuesday, saying there was too much confusion about The Onion’s bid. The bankruptcy case was in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts have ordered Jones to pay for calling the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut a hoax. Sandy Hook families had backed The Onion’s bid. NFL and Nike extend their partnership with a 10-year deal, will focus on growing the sport globally IRVING, Texas (AP) — The NFL’s desire to become a global powerhouse is no secret. Nike is committed to helping the league continue expanding its worldwide reach. The league and the apparel giant announced Wednesday a 10-year partnership extension. The NFL and Nike will focus on working together to grow the game’s global reach, increase participation, develop new talent, and expand the football fan base. Nike, the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel, has been the NFL’s exclusive provider of uniforms and sideline, practice and base layer apparel for all 32 NFL teams for 12 years. George Kresge Jr., who wowed talk show audiences as the The Amazing Kreskin, dies at age 89 NEW YORK (AP) — George Joseph Kresge Jr., otherwise known to TV watchers as the mesmerizing entertainer and mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, has died at age 89. Kreskin’s friend and former road manager, Ryan Galway, says he died Tuesday at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey. Kreskin launched his television career in the 1960s and remained popular for decades, appearing with everyone from Merv Griffin to Johnny Carson to Jimmy Fallon. Fans would welcome, if not entirely figure out, his favorite mind tricks — whether correctly guessing a playing card chosen at random, or, most famously, divining where his paycheck had been planted among the audience. He also hosted a show in the 1970s, gave live performances and wrote numerous books. Albertsons sues Kroger for failing to win approval of their proposed supermarket merger Kroger and Albertsons’ plan for the largest U.S. supermarket merger in history has crumbled. The two companies have accused each other of not doing enough to push their proposed alliance through, and Albertsons pulled out of the $24.6 billion deal on Wednesday. The bitter breakup came the day after a federal judge in Oregon and a state judge in Washington issued injunctions to block the merger, saying that combining the two grocery chains could reduce competition and harm consumers. Albertsons is now suing Kroger, seeking a $600 million termination fee, as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value. Kroger says the legal claims are “baseless.” Keynote Selena Gomez spotlights prioritizing mental health during Academy Women's Luncheon LOS ANGELES (AP) — While surveying a room packed with Hollywood’s most influential figures, “Emilia Pérez” star Selena Gomez took center stage at the Academy Women’s Luncheon to spotlight a critical issue: Prioritizing mental health and supporting underserved communities often left behind in the conversation. The singer-actor has been public about her mental health struggles, revealing she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Gomez was the keynote speaker Tuesday at the event held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with attendees including Ariana Grande, Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams, Pamela Anderson, Rita Wilson, Ava DuVernay and Awkwafina.
Amdocs recognized as winner in two categories - Industry Partner of the Year - Telco (Global) and Industry Partner of the Year - Telco (North America), recognizing top AWS Partners who enable telco customers to drive innovation JERSEY CITY, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / December 3, 2024 / Amdocs (NASDAQ:DOX), a leading provider of software and services to communications and media companies, today announced it is a recipient of the 2024 Geography and Global AWS Partner Award, recognizing leaders around the globe that are playing key roles in helping their customers drive innovation and build solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amdocs has been named winner in two categories - Industry Partner of the Year - Telco (Global) and Industry Partner of the Year - Telco (North America). Announced during the Partner Awards Gala at AWS re:Invent 2024, the Geographic and Global AWS Partner Awards recognize a wide range of AWS Partners that have embraced specialization, innovation, and cooperation over the past year. Geo and Global AWS Partner Awards recognize partners whose business models continue to evolve and thrive on AWS as they support their customers. Amdocs was recognized as Industry Partner of the Year - Telco (Global) for collaborating with PLDT, a leading telecommunications provider in the Philippines, to support their cloud migration on AWS. Amdocs is supporting PLDT's modernization journey to improve business agility and respond faster to market dynamics, driving innovations and delivering an enhanced connected customer experience. The project, which is being implemented in phases under multi-year agreement, involves Amdocs taking end-to-end accountability for migrating PLDT's legacy applications to AWS, data-warehouse modernization, and deploying Amdocs Intelligent Networking Suite, a next-generation operational support systems (OSS) platform, on AWS to modernize PLDT's network operations. "Our journey to the cloud is a strategic investment to serve customers better. By leveraging this technology, we are committed to delivering innovative products, services, and solutions that enhance experiences and ensure PLDT's relevance to nation building," said Victorico P. Vargas, Digital Office Head and Leadership Transition Officer at PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. Industry Partner of the Year - Telco (North America) recognizes the Amdocs connectX SaaS solution implementation with AT&T, a leading communication service provider in North America, as a Marquee Design Win. ConnectX offers a turnkey "telco-in-a-box" platform powered by AWS, which enables telcos and emerging mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to launch flexible and versatile digital services rapidly. The solution includes a comprehensive SaaS offering, featuring a catalog, subscription services management, a mobile app, innovative branding, and integration of local payment gateways and network aggregators. AT&T chose the Amdocs connectX cloud-native SaaS platform to support its vision of building an innovative ecosystem for evolving consumer needs. ConnectX empowers MVNOs to quickly create and launch unique brands and services for customers through accelerated timelines, advanced AI self-service, and digital simplicity. Stephanie Ormston, AVP, MVNx Ecosystem at AT&T said: "We're proud to collaborate with Amdocs and implement their feature-rich SaaS platform. This collaboration supports AT&T's mission of building a cutting-edge ecosystem for evolving consumer landscapes by empowering disruptive digital brands to quickly design and launch valuable digital products and innovative services." "We are thrilled to be recognized as ‘Partner of the Year' by AWS in two categories," said Anthony Goonetilleke, Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy at Amdocs. "Amdocs' commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions is backed by our extensive industry expertise and a strong emphasis on creating seamless connected experiences. The two awards reflect on our strong partnership with AWS, which is empowering our customers like AT&T and PLDT to reinvent the way they operate and re-imagine the type of experiences they bring to their customers." The Geography and Global AWS Partner Awards included a self-nomination process across several award categories, awarded at both the geographic and global level. All AWS Partners were invited to participate and submit a nomination. Award submissions were reviewed by a third-party, Canalys, and selected with special emphasis placed on customer success use cases. In addition, there were several data-driven award categories, which were evaluated by a unique set of metrics that helped measure AWS Partners' performance over the past year. Canalys audited the datasets used to ensure that all measurements and calculations were objective and accurate. Finalists represented the top three ranked AWS Partners across each category. The AWS Partner Network (APN) is a global program focused on helping partners innovate, accelerate their journey to the cloud, and take full advantage of the breadth and depth of AWS. Supporting Resources Learn more about Amdocs connectX Keep up with Amdocs news by visiting the company's website Follow us on X , Facebook , LinkedIn and YouTube About Amdocs Amdocs helps those who build the future to make it amazing. With our market-leading portfolio of software products and services, we unlock our customers' innovative potential, empowering them to provide next-generation communication and media experiences for both the individual end user and enterprise customers. Our employees around the globe are here to accelerate service providers' migration to the cloud, enable them to differentiate in the 5G era, and digitalize and automate their operations. Listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, Amdocs had revenue of $5.00 billion in fiscal 2024. For more information, visit www.amdocs.com Amdocs' Forward-Looking Statement This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Amdocs' growth and business results in future quarters and years. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the effects of general macro-economic conditions, prevailing level of macroeconomic, business and operational uncertainty, including as a result of geopolitical events or other global or regional events, as well as the current inflationary environment, and the effects of these conditions on the company's customers' businesses and levels of business activity, including the effect of the current economic uncertainty and industry pressure on the spending decisions of the company's customers, Amdocs' ability to grow in the business markets that it serves, Amdocs' ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, adverse effects of market competition, rapid technological shifts that may render the Company's products and services obsolete, potential loss of a major customer, our ability to develop long-term relationships with our customers, our ability to successfully and effectively implement artificial intelligence and Generative AI in the company's offerings and operations and risks associated with operating businesses in the international market. Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future; however, Amdocs specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These and other risks are discussed at greater length in Amdocs' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2023 filed on December 13, 2023 and our Form 6-K furnished for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 on February 20, 2024, for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 on May 20, 2024, and for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 on August 19, 2024. Media Contacts - Swati Sharma Amdocs Public Relations E-mail: swati.sharma4@amdocs.com SOURCE: Amdocs Management Limited View the original on accesswire.comDallas (5-8) at Carolina (3-10) Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, FOX. BetMGM Odds: Panthers by 3. Against the spread: Cowboys 4-9, Panthers 6-7. Series record: Cowboys lead 11-3. Last meeting: Cowboys beat Panthers 33-10 on Nov. 19, 2023 in Carolina. Last week: Cowboys lost to Bengals 27-20; Panthers lost to Eagles 22-16. Cowboys offense: overall (20), rush (28), pass (11), scoring (21) Cowboys defense: overall (25), rush (30), pass (22), scoring (31) Panthers offense: overall (30), rush (22), pass (27), scoring (28) Panthers defense: overall (31), rush (32), pass (12), scoring (32) Turnover differential: Cowboys minus-8; Panthers minus-5. Cowboys player to watch Panthers edge rusher Micah Parsons vs. Panthers offensive line. Parsons seems to be getting better as the season progresses and will be a tough matchup for Carolina’s offensive line regardless of where he lines up. Parsons has 3 1/2 sacks over his past three games. Panthers players to watch WR Adam Thielen. The veteran wide receiver was Bryce Young’s favorite option last season and is finally developing into that again this season after battling back from a hamstring injury that left him on injured reserve. Thielen has 17 catches on 21 targets for 201 yards and a touchdown over the past two games. When the Panthers need a first down on fourth down, the pass is almost always going to Thielen. RELATED COVERAGE 49ers LB De’Vondre Campbell refuses to enter game after losing his starting spot The Rams get 4 field goals to beat the 49ers 12-6 in a sloppy game Saints choose Jake Haener to start in Derek Carr’s place against Washington, AP source says Key matchup Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle vs. NFL’s worst run defense. Dowdle has had the first two 100-yard outings of his career the past two weeks, resetting his career best both times. The undrafted fifth-year player on an expiring contract had 131 yards in the loss to the Bengals. Since taking over as the lead back at the start of November, Dowdle is averaging 16 carries and 81 yards with a touchdown rushing and another receiving. On Sunday, he will face the league’s 32nd-ranked run defense. Carolina allowed Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley to run for 124 yards last week and Tampa Bay’s Bucky Irving to run for a career-high 152 yards the week before that. The Panthers are allowing more than 170 yards per game on the ground and 4.97 yards per carry. Key injuries Cowboys LB DeMarvion Overshown was set for season-ending surgery on the right knee he injured in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Bengals. The second-year player from Texas missed all of his rookie season after tearing a ligament in his left knee in a preseason game. ... DE DeMarcus Lawrence, who hasn’t played since Week 4, is close to returning from a foot injury. With the playoff hopes all but gone, the question remains whether to press the 32-year-old into action. Lawrence is on an expiring contract. ... Rookie C Cooper Beebe sustained a concussion against Cincinnati.. ... The Panthers are hoping to get WR Jalen Coker back on the field this week after he has missed the past three games with a quad injury. ... Also, No. 1 CB Jaycee Horn has been playing with a groin injury, and that could be problematic against CeeDee Lamb. The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . Series notes The Cowboys are 7-2 against the Panthers since losing a wild-card game at Carolina 29-10 during the 2003 season, the first of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells’ four years leading Dallas. Stats and stuff The Cowboys are 4-2 on the road this season, including victories over playoff contenders Pittsburgh and Washington. ... QB Cooper Rush is 2-3 filling in for Dak Prescott, who is out for the season after surgery for a torn hamstring. Assuming Rush starts, this will be his longest stint as Prescott’s replacement. He went 4-1 in 2022 after Prescott broke the thumb on his throwing hand in the opener. ... Dowdle’s 7.3-yard average per carry on 18 attempts against the Bengals was the highest for a Dallas back since Ezekiel Elliott averaged 7.9 per carry at Philadelphia in 2018. ... WR CeeDee Lamb has just one 100-yard receiving game this season after finishing with eight in his breakout 2023 All-Pro season. But Lamb has five other games with at least 89 yards. He has reached 1,000 scrimmage yards in each of his first five seasons, the fifth receiver to do that. ... S Malik Hooker’s interception of Joe Burrow was his second of the season. He has seven interceptions in his four Dallas seasons. He also had seven in four years with Indianapolis, where he spent four injury-filled years as a 2017 first-round draft pick. ... The Panthers have endured six straight seasons with at least 10 losses. ... Carolina’s past five games have come down to the last possession. ... Panthers 1,000-yard RB Chuba Hubbard needs one rushing touchdown to pass Stephen Davis for fifth in team history. He is also 9 rushing yards away from reaching 3,000 for his career. ... Rookie WR Xavier Legette had three drops last week vs. the Eagles, including one for a potential go-ahead score in the final minute. ... OLB Jadeveon Clowney is tied for 11th in sacks among active NFL players. ... The Panthers have 15 sacks in the past four games. Carolina’s improved pass rush has coincided with OLB D.J. Wonnum getting on the field after missing the first nine games of the season on injured reserve. Fantasy tip Chuba Hubbard is expected to see the overwhelming majority of carries for the Panthers, who are now thin at the position. Miles Sanders and Jonathon Brooks are on injured reserve and Raheem Blackshear is working through a chest injury. That leaves Mike Boone as the Hubbard’s backup. ___ NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl