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Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman enters 2nd season with revised blueprint for success

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Marcus Freeman believes there is no substitute for experience.In his second season as Notre Dame’s coach, the 37-year-old Freeman intends to prove it by avoiding the early-season miscues that proved so costly last year.“I had a blueprint based on other individuals’ experiences being a head coach,” he said. “I gathered my own ideas, but I’d never done it. This year, you can make enhancements based on your own personal experience.”In 2022, the Fighting Irish fell from a preseason ranking of No. 5 and wound up unranked following season-opening losses to No. 2 Ohio State and Marshall. A few weeks later, Notre Dame lost to Stanford — a team that won only three games all season. Freeman rebounded and led Notre Dame to a 6-1 finish, but for the first time since 2016, the Fighting Irish failed to win at least 10 games.This year, they start at No. 13 with a schedule laced with trap games around a handful of top-10 foes.But those tough lessons from 2022 should he...

USA Basketball’s coaching staff for this year’s World Cup is a star-studded mix

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The players and coaches on USA Basketball’s roster for the World Cup that starts next week are in possession of a combined 16 NBA championship rings.The breakdown of those rings: Coaches 15, Players 1.Make no mistake, there are some rising star players on this U.S. roster: Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Brandon Ingram and Jaren Jackson Jr. have already been All-Stars, Jalen Brunson should be one soon, Jackson Jr. is the reigning NBA defensive player of the year and Paolo Banchero is the NBA rookie of the year.But the biggest names in terms of star power might be the guys who’ll wear polo shirts, not jerseys. The U.S. assembled an All-Star coaching staff for this tournament, with Golden State’s Steve Kerr leading a group that has the Los Angeles Clippers’ Tyronn Lue, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and Gonzaga’s Mark Few as his assistants.“It’s kind of cool to step away from our regular teams and come to another team setting where we all have to fig...

Fresh look at DNA from Oetzi the Iceman traces his roots to present day Turkey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Oetzi the Iceman has a new look. Decades after the famous glacier mummy was discovered in the Italian Alps, scientists have dug back into his DNA to paint a better picture of the ancient hunter.They determined that Oetzi was mostly descended from farmers from present day Turkey, and his head was balder and skin darker than what was initially thought, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Cell Genomics.Oetzi, who lived more than 5,000 years ago, was frozen into the ice after he was killed by an arrow to the back. His corpse was preserved as a “natural mummy” until 1991, when hikers found him along with some of his clothing and gear — including a copper ax, a longbow and a bearskin hat. Since then, many researchers have worked to uncover more about the mummy, which is displayed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.An earlier draft of Oetzi’s genome was published in 2012. But ancient DNA research has advanced since then, so scient...

Several coaches leading teams at the World Cup have NBA or North American ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

Some of the World Cup coaches with ties to the NBA or North America:___TIM CONEAssistant coach, PhilippinesCone is a national coaching legend in the Philippines, a winner of more than two dozen league championships during his career there. He’s Oregon-born, like U.S. assistant Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat — who has deep ties to the Philippines since it’s his mother’s homeland. Cone served as an assistant on the Heat staff at NBA Summer League in 2022.ROY RANAHead coach, EgyptThe Canadian coach was previously an assistant for Sacramento.GORDON HERBERTHead coach, GermanyBorn in Canada, Herbert played college basketball in Idaho and was a Toronto assistant for one season. He’ll be assisted at the World Cup by Orlando assistant Bret Brielmaier.ROYAL IVEYHead coach, South SudanA veteran of 10 NBA seasons, Ivey will lead South Sudan into the World Cup.TOM HOVASSEHead coach, JapanThe Colorado-born Hovasse played in two NBA games in 1994, had a long stint playing in Japan, led the Japan...

Un fallo en el sistema bancario les permitió a clientes del Bank of Ireland retirar dinero que no tenían

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

(CNN) — Una falla técnica hizo que durante varias horas los clientes de uno de los bancos más grandes de Irlanda pudieran retirar fondos que no tenían.La falla, ocurrida este martes y resuelta en la aplicación y el sitio web del Bank of Ireland (BOI), significaba que las personas podían transferir hasta € 1.000 (US$ 1.090) a una cuenta digital y luego retirar esa suma de un cajero automático, incluso si no había fondos suficientes en sus cuentas, informó The Irish Times.El BOI pidió disculpas por el incidente, en el que se formaron colas mientras la gente se apresuraba a explotar la falla, y que también significó que algunos clientes no pudieran acceder a sus cuentas.Un banco depositó por error US$ 120.000 a una pareja; mira qué hicieron con el dineroPero el banco también advirtió que los fondos transferidos y retirados, incluso “sobre los límites normales… serán debitados de su cuenta”.“Nos disculpamos sinceramente por los inconvenientes que causó esta interrupción; sabemos q...

Dozens gather at Miami-Dade School Board building in ‘Teach No Lies’ rally, condemning Florida’s censorship of Black History

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

Dozens gathered outside of Booker T. Washington Senior High School and made their way to the Miami-Dade School Board Administration building to protest the recent curtail on the teaching of black studies in the state of Florida. Dozens of educators, students and community members gather for the “Teach No Lies” march on Wednesday.Organized by a coalition of educators, activists, and community leaders, the march seeks to address their increasing concerns surrounding the regressive censorship of Black history in the state’s curriculum. “It completely destroys what happened to a group of people, the most traumatic experiences in history and it tries to rewrite our curriculum in a way that is unacceptable to us as black people,” said community activist Jonathan Gartrelle. Critics of the curriculum said it dismisses and erases key parts of black history and even teaches slavery as beneficial. “Not only does it offend me, it hurts me,” said the Pre...

Police arrest man involved in battery, robbery after brutally beating man in Coconut Grove

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

Police arrested Marco Roura after he brutally beat Gregory Breidenbach, a man who lives in Coconut Grove, on July 8. The 45-year-old criminal was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with strong-arm robbery and felony battery.Breidenbach was hospitalized for nearly a week after he suffered severe facial injuries as a result of the attack. He believed he was targeted for being gay. The incident was originally believed to be a hate crime but after an extensive investigation by the police department’s Violent Crimes Unit, officials determined a hate crime did not occur.

Louisiana woman arrested for throwing monitor at KFC employee during altercation at MIA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

A 42-year-old woman was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and battery after a heated altercation at a Kentucky Fried Chicken located within Miami International Airport. Robyn Jackson, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, allegedly threw a cash register monitor at KFC employee during a dispute, Tuesday.According to the arrest report, the dispute started when Jackson’s credit card was repeatedly declined while attempting to purchase a drink from the restaurant. The situation escalated, resulting in Jackson grabbing the cash register monitor from the counter and throwing it at the employee. The monitor struck the employee on his right arm, leaving him with a minor laceration and swelling.The monitor, valued at $2,000, was damaged during the altercation. Police arrived on the scene and issued a trespass warning to Jackson, prohibiting her from returning to the MIA premises under the threat of arrest for trespassing after warning.Following her arrest, Jackson was taken into custody an...

Sanna Marin says Finns Party racism scandals ‘no surprise’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

Former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin criticized her successor for forming a coalition with the far-right Finns Party, which has been hit by three racism scandals since taking office.“It is no surprise that the Finns are a racist party,” Marin said during her Social Democrat party’s summer press conference on Wednesday.She added that investigations of members of Cabinet from the Finns Party reveal “the darkest racist and dehumanizing views,” highlighting “shocking language about the value system and human image of the government’s politicians,” as Finnish media reported.Marin — who stepped down after losing an election in April — added that her party cannot accept how the Finns Party and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo are undermining the basic values of a democratic society. She said Orpo — leader of the conservative National Coalition Party — had accepted racism in the ranks in exchange for being able to govern. The Finnish gove...

NATO backpedals as Ukraine fumes over land for membership gaffe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

BRUSSELS — NATO was in cleanup mode Wednesday after a senior official sparked a dust-up over his suggestion that Ukraine could cede territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership. The controversy started Tuesday when Stian Jenssen, director of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s private office, said one solution to the ongoing war could be for Ukraine to offer Russia land in return for a spot in the NATO military alliance. The comments, made during a panel debate in southern Norway and picked up by the Norwegian newspaper VG, were striking as Western allies have long emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and said Kyiv should decide when and how to negotiate with Moscow. Within hours, Ukraine was expressing outrage, diplomats were doing double takes and Moscow was putting it all through the Kremlin’s spin machine. “Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous,” tweeted Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian Pre...