BEIRUT — Pope Leo XIV landed in Lebanon on Sunday aiming to bring a message of hope to its long-suffering people and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.

He arrived at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises. Leo is fulfilling a promise of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit for years but was unable to as his health worsened.

Lebanon is the second leg of Leo’s first official foreign trip, after Turkey, where he marked an important Christian anniversary coming at a time as the predominantly Sunni Muslim country of over 85 million has positioned itself as a key intermediary in talks to end the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

Leo had two key appointments in Istanbul before flying to Beirut: a prayer at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and a divine liturgy with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, whose invitation was the impetus for his visit.

In the Armenian cathedral, Leo praised the “courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often amid tragic circumstances.” It was a reference to the World War I-era slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Francis had termed the massacre a “genocide,” angering Turkey, which denies a genocide took place. Leo was more diplomatic in his words on Turkish soil.

In Lebanon, Leo was expected to try to encourage Lebanese who believe their leaders have failed them, and to call on Lebanese Christians to stay or, if they have already moved abroad, to come home.

Francis often quoted St. John Paul II, who in 1989 said that Lebanon was a “message” — a message of fraternity and coexistence. Under Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the country’s president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker a Shiite.

At the Beirut airport, where his plane landed with a Lebanese military jet escort, Leo was greeted first by President Joseph Aoun, then by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

Leo moved through the streets of the Lebanese capital in a closed popemobile, a highly rare security measure.

Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, has always been a priority for the Vatican, a bulwark for Christians throughout the region. After years of conflict, Christian communities that date from the time of the Apostles have shrunk.

“The Holy Father is coming at a very difficult moment for Lebanon and for our region,” said Bishop George, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut. Lebanese are worried about the future, he said, and still fear a possible return to all-out war with Israel.

“In this difficult moment, the pope’s visit is a sign of hope. It shows that Lebanon is not forgotten,” he told reporters before the visit.

Series of crises

In 2019, the country’s currency and banking system collapsed and many Lebanese saw their savings evaporate. The financial crisis drove shortages of electricity, fuel and medicine.

Another disaster followed in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at the Beirut port detonated in an explosion that blasted through the surrounding neighborhoods, killing 218 people, wounding thousands more and causing billions of dollars in damage.

The highlight of Leo’s Lebanese visit will come on his last day, Tuesday, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020, and meets with some of its victims.

Lebanese citizens were enraged by the blast, which appeared to be the result of government negligence, coming on top of the economic crisis. But an investigation has repeatedly stalled, and five years on, no official has been convicted.

There are hopes among Lebanese that Leo will demand accountability from Lebanon’s political class and insist that there can be no peace without truth and justice.

Another important moment will come when Leo meets with young Lebanese. He’s expected to give them words of encouragement, amid the decades-long flight abroad, while also acknowledging their disillusionment over the failures of generations before them.

Lebanon’s ongoing conflict with Israel

After the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah entered into a low-level conflict with Israel that escalated into a full-fledged war in September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and causing widespread destruction.

Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that nominally ended the conflict two months later, Israel continues to launch near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

The pope “is coming to bless us and for the sake of peace,” said Farah Saadeh, a Beirut resident walking on the city’s seaside promenade. “We have to wait and see what will happen after he leaves, and we hope nothing is going to happen after his departure.”

Before Leo’s arrival, Hezbollah urged the pope to express his “rejection to injustice and aggression” that the country is being subjected to., referring to the Israeli strikes.

The group also urged its supporters to line up along the papal convoy route from the airport to the presidential palace — which is punctuated by bombed-out buildings from the recent war — to pay their respects. Hundreds of them did so, waving the flags of Lebanon and the Vatican.

Mounir Younes, the leader of a Hezbollah-affiliated scout troupe, said they aimed to send a message about “the importance of coexistence and national unity.”

“Muslim-Christian coexistence is a great wealth that we must hold onto,” he said.

Hezbollah — a primarily Shiite group — has allied with several Christian political groups in the country, including the Free Patriotic Movement and Marada Movement. However, the Christian party with the largest parliamentary bloc, the Lebanese Forces, is an opponent of Hezbollah and has criticized the group for pulling the country into a war with Israel.

Syrian Christians

In neighboring Syria, hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the country’s 14 years of civil war.

The country’s former autocratic President Bashar Assad was ousted in an offensive led by Islamist insurgents last December. Since then, there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence and some attacks on religious minorities, including a suicide attack on a church in Damascus in June.

While the new government has condemned attacks on minorities, many accuse it of looking the other way or being unable to control allied armed groups.

A delegation of some 300 Syrian Christians, headed by a Greek Melkite Catholic priest, was set to travel to Lebanon to join a meeting between Leo and youth groups and pray in a public mass on Beirut’s waterfront.

“We are in need of someone like the pope to come and give us hope as Christians” at a time of “fear of an unknown future,” said 24-year-old Dima Awwad, one of the delegation members. “We wish that the pope would come to visit Syria as he visited Lebanon, to reassure the people and to feel that we are present as eastern Christians and that we need to be in this place.”

Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb and Ali Sharafeddine in Beirut contributed to this report. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/pope-leo-lebanon/ 

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Top Trump administration officials are meeting Ukrainian negotiators in Florida on Sunday, pushing to broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and setting the stage for key talks planned this week in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, were expected to hold talks with a Ukrainian delegation to further hash out the details of a proposed peace framework. The negotiations come at a sensitive moment for Ukraine as it continues to push back against Russian forces that invaded in 2022.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who up until that point had been the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S.

The announcement came after Yermak’s home was searched by anti-corruption investigators. Zelenskyy’s government has been roiled by fallout from a scandal over $100 million embezzled from the energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors, causing newfound domestic pressures for Zelenskyy.

It was only a week ago that Rubio had met with Yermak in Geneva, with each side saying the talks had been positive in putting together a revised peace plan.

Now, the Ukrainian delegation includes Andrii Hnatov, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces; Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister; and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s security council, Zelenskyy has said.

Diplomats have been focused on revisions to Trump’s proposed 28-point plan developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow. That plan was criticized as being too weighted toward Russian demands. It had initially envisioned Ukraine ceding the entire eastern region of the Donbas to Russia — a sticking point for Kyiv.

The plan, which Trump has since played down as a “concept” or a “map” to be “fine-tuned,” would have imposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, blocked the country from joining NATO and required Ukraine to hold elections in 100 days. Negotiators have indicated the framework has changed, but it’s not clear how its provisions have been altered.

Trump said on Tuesday that he would send Witkoff and perhaps Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan. Both Witkoff and Kushner, like Trump, hail from the world of real estate that values dealmaking over the conventions of diplomacy. The pair also were behind a 20-point proposal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Zelenskyy wrote on X that the Ukrainian delegation would “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war.”

In his nightly address on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach.”

“In the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end,” he said.

Attacks continue despite diplomatic efforts to end the war

On Saturday, Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killed at least three people and wounded dozens more, officials said. Fresh attacks overnight into Sunday killed one person and wounded 19 others, including four children, local officials said, when a drone hit a nine-story apartment block in the city of Vyshhorod in the Kyiv region.

In a post on Telegram Sunday, Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukraine with 122 strike drones and ballistic missiles.

“Such attacks occur daily. This week alone, Russians have used nearly 1,400 strike drones, 1,100 guided aerial bombs and 66 missiles against our people. That is why we must strengthen Ukraine’s resilience every day. Missiles and air defense systems are necessary, and we must also actively work with our partners for peace,” Zelenskyy said.

“We need real, reliable solutions that will help end the war,” he added.

After Ukraine claimed responsibility for damaging a major oil terminal on Saturday near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Kazakhstan told Ukraine on Sunday to stop attacking the Black Sea terminal. The CPC pipeline, which starts in Kazakhstan and ends at the Novorossisyk terminal, handles a large proportion of Kazakhstan’s oil exports.

“We view what has occurred as an action harming the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/ukraine-russia-war-2/ 

The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members blocks from the White House had been unraveling for years, unable to hold a job and flipping between long, lightless stretches of isolation and taking sudden weekslong cross-country drives. Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal.

Emails obtained by The Associated Press reveal mounting warnings about the asylum-seeker whose erratic conduct raised alarms long before the attack that jolted the nation’s capital on Wednesday, the eve of Thanksgiving. The previously unreported concerns offer the clearest picture yet of how he was struggling in his new life in the United States.

Even so, when the community member who works with Afghan families in Washington state saw on the news that Lakanwal was named as the suspect in the attack, they said they were stunned, unable to square the violence with the memory of seeing Lakanwal play with his young sons. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to share undisclosed details while cooperating with the FBI in its investigation.

West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the shooting, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded. Investigators are working to establish a motive for the attack.

Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder.

In Afghanistan, Lakanwal worked in a special Afghan Army unit known as a Zero Unit. The units were backed by the CIA. He entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the American withdrawal. Many had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats.

He resettled with his wife and their five sons, all under the age of 12, in Bellingham, Washington, but struggled, according to the community member, who shared emails that had been sent to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit group that provides services to refugees.

“Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly,” the person wrote in a January 2024 email.

The emails described a man who was struggling to assimilate, unable to hold a steady job or commit to his English courses while he alternated between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel.” Sometimes, he spent weeks in his “darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids.” At one point in 2023, the family faced eviction after months of not paying rent.

The community member, in an interview, spoke of becoming worried that Lakanwal was so depressed that he would end up harming himself. But the community member did not see any indication that Lakanwal would commit violence against another person.

Lakanwal’s family members often resorted to sending his toddler sons into his room to bring him the phone or messages because he would not respond to anyone else, one email stated. A couple of times, when his wife left him with the kids for a week to travel to visit relatives, the children would not be bathed, their clothes would not be changed, and they would not eat well. Their school raised concerns about the situation.

But then, there were “interim” weeks where Lakanwal would try to make amends and “do the right things,” according to the email, reengaging with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services as was mandated by the terms of his entry into the U.S.

“But that has quickly evolved into ‘manic’ episodes for one or two weeks at a time, where he will take off in the family car, and drive nonstop,” the email outlined. Once, he went to Chicago, and another time, to Arizona.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, said this past week that Lakanwal drove across the country from Bellingham, which is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Seattle, to the nation’s capital.

In response to the two emails, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants or USCRI, visited Bellingham a few weeks later in March 2024 and attempted to make contact with Lakanwal and his family, according to the community member, who, after not receiving any updates, was left with the impression that Lakanwal refused their assistance.

A request for comment and clarification from USCRI was not immediately returned.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/suspect-national-guard-attack/ 

TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked the country’s president to grant him a pardon from corruption charges — seeking to end a long-running trial that has bitterly divided the nation.

Netanyahu, who has been at war against the country’s legal system over the charges, said the request would help unify the country at a time of momentous changes in the region. But it immediately triggered denunciations from his opponents, who said it would weaken Israel’s democratic institutions and send a dangerous message that he is above the rule of law.

In a statement Sunday, the prime minister’s office said that Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President. The president’s office called it an “extraordinary request,” carrying with it “significant implications.”

Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters. He has not been convicted of anything.

Netanyahu rejects the allegations and has condemned the case as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media, police and judiciary.

The request comes weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israel to pardon Netanyahu. Earlier this month Trump also sent a letter to President Isaac Herzog calling the corruption case “political, unjustified prosecution.”

In a videotaped statement, Netanyahu said the trial has divided the country and that a pardon would help restore national unity. He also said the requirement that he appear in court three times a week is a distraction that makes it difficult for him to lead the country.

“The continuation of the trial tears us apart from within, stirs up this division, and deepens rifts. I am sure, like many others in the nation, that an immediate conclusion of the trial would greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs,” he said.

Netanyahu has taken the stand multiple times over the past year, but the case has been repeatedly delayed as he has dealt with wars and unrest stemming from the Hamas-led militant attacks of October 2023.

Netanyahu’s pardon request consisted of two documents — a detailed letter signed by his lawyer and a letter signed by Netanyahu. They’ll be sent to the Justice Ministry for opinions and will then be transferred to the Legal Advisor in the Office of the President, which will formulate additional opinions for the president.

Legal experts say the pardon request is not able to stop the trial.

“It’s impossible,” said Emi Palmor, former director general of the Justice Ministry.

“You cannot claim that you’re innocent while the trial is going on and come to the president and ask him to intervene,” she said. The only way to stop the trial is to ask the attorney general to withhold the proceedings, she said.

Netanyahu claims there’s a conspiracy to remove him

In 2008, as opposition leader, Netanyahu called on then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down as he faced a growing corruption scandal. At the time, Netanyahu said that a prime minister “up to his neck” in scandal did not have a mandate to lead the country, and there was a risk that Olmert would make decisions that served his personal interests, and not those of the nation. Olmert resigned even before he was indicted that year and would later serve 16 months in prison.

Netanyahu has struck a different, defiant tone since his own legal problems began. He has portrayed himself as the victim of a “deep state” conspiracy trying to oust him from office.

Shortly after forming his current government in late 2022, Netanyahu launched a plan to overhaul the country’s justice system.

Netanyahu portrayed the plan as a much-needed reform. But his opponents accused him of trying to weaken the justice system, damaging the country’s system of checks and balances and having a conflict of interest at a time when he was on trial.

The plan triggered massive street protests against the government, and critics have said the deep divisions sent a message of weakness to Israel’s enemies that encouraged Hamas to launch its 2003 attacks.

Netanyahu’s request also sparked backlash on Sunday with an immediate response from the opposition and advocacy groups, urging the president not to give in to his request.

“You cannot grant him a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate retirement from political life,” said opposition leader Yair Lapid.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said granting a pardon to a prime minister accused of serious offenses of fraud and breach of trust would send a clear message that there are citizens who are above the law.

Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/netanyahu-corruption-trial/ 

DC Terror Ambush Forces U.S. To Reckon With $14 Billion Afghan Evacuation Program That Imported Chaos

Tyler Durden
Sun, 11/30/2025 – 09:55

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dc-terror-ambush-forces-us-reckon-14-billion-afghan-evacuation-program-imported-chaos 

Por JAMES ROBSON

Joshua Zirkzee anotó en la Liga Premier por primera vez en casi un año para encender la reacción del Manchester United para doblegar el domingo 2-1 a Crystal Palace.

El delantero holandés no había marcado en la máxima categoría de Inglaterra desde un doblete contra Everton el 1 de diciembre del año pasado. Pero puso fin a su sequía con un impresionante gol a los 54 minutos de la visita al Selhurst Park para igualar el partido después de que Jean-Philippe Mateta adelantó al Palace al cobrar un penal en la primera mitad.

Mason Mount anotó el gol de la victoria nueve minutos después. El United puso fin a la racha de 12 partidos invictos en casa del Palace en la liga.

Una brillante acción individual de Zirkzee enchufó al United en el partido. Tras un tiro libre cobrado por Bruno Fernandes por la izquierda, controló el balón con el pecho dentro del área, hizo un giro y definió con un zurdazo casi sin ángulo. Fue apenas su octavo gol en total para el United desde que llegó procedente de Bologna el año pasado y su primero esta temporada.

Entró en el once titular del United tras las lesiones de los delanteros Benjamin Sesko y Matheus Cunha y ofreció uno de sus mejores momentos en su etapa en el club.

Mount anotó el gol decisivo tras un tiro libre al rematar rasante desde el borde del área después de un pase de Fernandes.

Mateta puso en ventaja al Palace con un pena ejecutado dos veces a los 36. Se consideró que el internacional francés hizo un doble toque en la primera ejecución y se le pidió que lo repitiera, según la aclaración de la regla que se implementó después de que el doble toque accidental del argentino Julián Álvarez en una tanda de penales contra el Real Madrid la temporada pasada ayudara a eliminar al Atlético de Madrid de la Liga de Campeones.

___

Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/man-united-remonta-y-vence-2-1-crystal-palace-zirkzee-rompe-sequa-con-golazo/ 

The college football regular season is complete. Now it’s on to conference championship weekend and then the playoffs and bowl games.

Before we turn our attention to the postseason, here’s a quick look at how Big Ten teams and Notre Dame finished Week 14 — including a few wild weather games.

1. Illinois’ defense came up big in the snow to win The Hat.

Illinois’ Mac Resetich celebrates after the win against Northwestern Wildcats at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 29, 2025, in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

Illinois was clinging to a four-point lead against Northwestern in the fourth quarter Saturday at Gies Memorial Stadium when Miles Scott darted forward to intercept a Preston Stone pass and returned it 33 yards.

The Illini turned that takeaway into a David Olano 27-yard field goal and a seven-point lead.

Five Northwestern plays and a minute later, Scott did it again. His second interception off a tipped pass helped Illinois pull off a 20-13 victory over the Wildcats (6-6, 4-5) on a snowy night in Champaign. The Illini (8-4, 5-4) held off one final NU drive to win the Land of Lincoln Trophy, also known as The Hat.

Illinois had four takeaways in the win, including three interceptions of Stone. Torrie Cox Jr. had the other pick near the end of the second quarter, leading to Kaden Feagin‘s 1-yard touchdown run and a 14-10 Illini halftime lead.

Stone also had a fumble that Leon Lowery Jr. recovered and was sacked twice by Gabe Jacas.

In reflecting on Scott’s big game, Illinois coach Bret Bielema recalled how the now-senior safety arrived in Champaign as a non-scholarship wide receiver.

“Literally after the first spring drills, I knew he was a DB,” Bielema told reporters at his postgame news conference. “I just couldn’t do it to him because he was paying his own way. After the second year, I said, ‘Hey my friend, I’ve got an idea. I’m going to give you a scholarship. You’ve got to move to defense.’ … I think he’ll be a good NFL player. They’re really excited about him.”

2. Jeremiyah Love suffered a rib injury that limited him during No. 9 Notre Dame’s 49-20 win against Stanford.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is tackled by Stanford safety Charlie Eckhardt during the second half on Nov. 29, 2025, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Love, the Irish junior running back and Heisman Trophy candidate, started off Notre Dame’s scoring at Stanford with a milestone. Love’s 21st touchdown of the season – on a 2-yard carry midway through the first quarter – broke the Notre Dame record set by Jerome Bettis in 1991.

But he left the game later in the first half with what coach Marcus Freeman told reporters at his postgame news conference was a rib injury. Love returned for five more carries in the second and third quarter and finished with 14 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown. The Irish routed Stanford 49-20.

Freeman said he left it up to Love whether he wanted to return.

“I know he wanted to go out there to put on a Heisman Trophy-worthy performance,” Freeman said. “And we owed it to him to say, ‘If you feel like you can go, go.’ That tells you the type of competitor he is. I know he’s hurting, but he wanted to go. And it was safe for him. We wouldn’t put him in harm’s way.”

Jeremiyah Love’s Heisman Trophy candidacy is building steam during a highlight-reel November for Notre Dame

Love will have some time to recover as the Irish wait their playoff fate.

Notre Dame’s win – one week after a 70-7 romp of Syracuse – helps position the Irish for a possible College Football Playoff berth despite not having a conference championship game to play in. But there are several other contenders in play for an at-large berth.

“If you talk about a team that is probably playing as well as anyone right now. We’ve won 10 straight games in a row, all of them by double-digit points,” Freeman said. “You talk about who are the best teams now. Not Week 1, now. And it’s hard to argue we aren’t one of those teams.”

3. Illinois staff had to do major work to get the Gies Memorial Stadium field ready for the finale.

A general view of the inside of the stadium during the Illinois-Northwestern game at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 29, 2025 in Champaign. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

After Illinois finished its regular season 8-4, several photographers took shots of players climbing snowdrifts and throwing snowballs to celebrate.

A winter storm blanketed Central Illinois with snow Saturday morning and afternoon ahead of the game. The Illini said that more than a half-foot of snow fell in Champaign on Saturday, more than any game in Gies Memorial Stadium history.

That meant Illinois workers spent hours clearing the field and stands so that the game could go on as scheduled. Bielema thanked “all the people that made the game happen today.”

“It didn’t look too good about four hours out, but I knew there were a lot of things in place,” he said.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema reacts during the second quarter against Northwestern at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 29, 2025, in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

The weather made for an unusual experience for the Illini.

“Usually I’m getting in trouble for being on the field, but (somebody) tapped me and I just about got clipped by a tractor going by with a snow plow,” Bielema said. “So it was kind of a unique game day experience.”

4. The Big Ten got the matchup everyone has been waiting for.

Indiana running back Kaelon Black leaps over Purdue linebacker Alex Sanford during the second half on Nov. 28, 2025, in West Lafayette, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

The No. 1 team — and defending national champion — against the No. 2 team in the country. The only undefeated teams left in FBS. Two quarterbacks in the running for the Heisman Trophy. One of the best offenses in the country against the best defense.

That’s what the Big Ten has on tap for Saturday’s championship game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana in Indianapolis. The conference’s first title game between undefeated teams will be must-watch TV, even if both seem likely to receive first-round playoff byes no matter what.

No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0) secured its first trip to the championship game with a 56-3 destruction of Purdue on Friday to complete its first undefeated season since 1945.

Who will win the Silver Football as Big Ten’s top player? The answer may intertwine with the Heisman race.

No. 1 Ohio State (12-0, 9-0) had a taller task Saturday, but still cruised to a 27-9 win over No. 15 Michigan.

The title game comes less than 48 hours before the Heisman Trophy voting closes – with Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State QB Julian Sayin among the leading candidates for the award. That adds even more intrigue to the mix, especially with Mendoza set for his biggest test against Ohio State’s defense.

5. Sayin and his supporting cast finally ended Michigan’s streak.

Ohio State’s Julian Sayin throws a pass during the first quarter against Michigan at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 29, 2025 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Ohio State hadn’t beaten Michigan since 2019, entering Saturday’s game in Ann Arbor, Mich., with four straight losses in the rivalry.

Sayin’s early interception helped Michigan take a 6-0 first-quarter lead. But buoyed by the return of top wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate – who combined for eight catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns – Sayin was on point from there.

Sayin, in his first year starting for the Buckeyes, completed 19 of 26 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns in the snow. It was the biggest win of Sayin’s career – just as he prepares for much bigger tests ahead.

His performance helped Ohio State and coach Ryan Day break a weighty losing streak to the Wolverines.

“To tell you that the last four years have been easy is not true,” Day told reporters after the game. “I take the responsibility of being the head coach at Ohio State very, very seriously. So does my family, so do the players, so do the coaches. So when you don’t accomplish those things, you take it personally.

“But to win this game, it’s just a great moment. It’s one of those moments that you want to just grab on for a while and just enjoy it. Because just to see the joy on everybody’s face is really what this thing’s all about.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/college-football-takeaways-week-14/ 

Race To The Bottom: White House Launches ‘Media Offenders’ Leaderboard

Tyler Durden
Sun, 11/30/2025 – 09:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/race-bottom-white-house-launches-media-offenders-leaderboard 

STANFORD, Calif. — Luke Talich scored on an 84-yard pass on a fake punt and No. 9 Notre Dame won its 10th straight, routing Stanford 49-20 on Saturday night after a scary moment for star running back Jeremiyah Love.

Afterward, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said he felt his team has done enough to be considered for the CFP.

“We have improved as much as anybody in the country, been playing as well as anybody in the country and we have, in my opinion, the best player in the country,” Freeman said. “That’s what you want. You want the best teams in the country now. Who’s the best teams for the playoffs right now? I truly believe we’re one.”

Jeremiyah Love’s Heisman Trophy candidacy is building steam during a highlight-reel November for Notre Dame

The fourth-leading rusher in the nation and a Heisman Trophy contender, Love was shaken up after running for a short gain midway through the first quarter. He remained down for a few moments, walked to the locker room and didn’t return until the second half.

Love finished with 66 yards (8 after returning) and scored his 21st touchdown of the season, breaking Jerome Bettis’ school record for overall TDs while tying Audrice Estime’s record of 18 rushing touchdowns in a season.

“I went into the tent, like I was good immediately,” Love said. “But they wanted to make sure I was good. Everything came out right. Just a bruise.”

Backups Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams combined for 178 total yards of offense and four touchdowns.

CJ Carr threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns as Notre Dame (10-2) retained the Legends Trophy.

Elijah Brown passed for 204 yards and a touchdown with one interception for Stanford (4-8). Emmett Kenney added two field goals.

“The culture that the players set, the way we did things … we didn’t get as many wins as we want but we made progress there, too,” Stanford interim coach Frank Reich said. “There’s a lot more wins coming to this program, trust me on that.”

Talich scored on a 4th-and-19 pass from Joshua Burnham in the second quarter.

“Something we’ve been working on for a couple of weeks, and we knew if we got a certain look, we would check to it,” Freeman said. “Then we got the look that we wanted, we checked to it, and we executed.”

The Irish scored touchdowns on each of their first four drives, led 28-3 at halftime then coasted. It’s the fourth time in the last eight seasons that Notre Dame has had a winning streak of 10 games or longer.

The takeaway

Notre Dame: The Irish are in position to get in the playoffs. All 10 of the their wins have been by double figures.

Stanford: Former Cardinal quarterback Tavita Pritchard takes over as head coach next season.

Up next

Notre Dame awaits the playoffs announcement.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/notre-dame-wins-jeremiyah-love-hurt/ 

VW Aims To Cut Development Costs In Half With New “Made In China” Car

Tyler Durden
Sun, 11/30/2025 – 08:45

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/vw-aims-cut-development-costs-half-new-made-china-car