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Big 12 committed to title game even with CFP expansion and changes in league, Yormark says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said his still-evolving conference remains committed to having a championship game even as the College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams after this season.“This is a tentpole event. Everything leads up to this moment, it creates a wonderful narrative for this conference. It’s a showcase event, and something I’m committed to,” Yormark said before Saturday’s title game. “I know there’s been a lot of discussion amongst the commissioners about what that might look like, but as it relates to the Big 12, we love this game. We love being at AT&T (Stadium). … It lets the world know who we are and where we’re going.”Seventh-ranked Texas, the Big 12’s last hope to get into the final four-team version of the playoffs, played No. 19 Oklahoma State at the home of NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, where it has a contract to play its championship game through 2031.Texas is leaving along with Oklahoma for the Sou...

Titleholder Italy joins Spain, Croatia in tough group at Euro 2024. Host Germany opens vs Scotland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Defending champion Italy was drawn in a tough group at the 2024 European Championship with two-time winner Spain, 2022 World Cup semifinalist Croatia and Albania on Saturday.Italy, the Euro 2020 winner, shaped as the most difficult option from the draw pot of lowest-ranked teams and so it proved.Italy beat Spain — the back-to-back title winner in 2008 and 2012 — in the semifinals to win that title.The draw ensured the other Euro 2020 semifinal also will be a rematch in Germany next year. England will again face Denmark, which it beat to reach the final. Their group also includes Slovenia and Serbia.France, the World Cup finalist a year ago, was drawn with Austria, the Netherlands — which the French beat twice in a qualifying group this year — and the winner of a playoff bracket in March involving Poland, Estonia, Wales and Finland.Germany, on a run of poor results, will open its home tournament against Scotland on June 14 at Bayern Munich’s stadium. The group...

Mueren 7 personas que presuntamente practicaban minería ilegal en Zambia; más de 20 desaparecidos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

7 personas que presuntamente practicaban la minería ilegal fueron declaradas muertas y más de 20 estaban desaparecidas y se las daba por muertas después de que fuertes lluvias provocaron aludes que los enterraron al interior de túneles que excavaban en una mina de cobre en Zambia, informaron el sábado la policía y autoridades locales.Los mineros estaban excavando en busca de mineral de cobre en la mina a cielo abierto Seseli en la ciudad de Chingola, en el cinturón cuprífero, a unas 250 millas al norte de Lusaka, la capital, según la policía. Los deslaves sucedieron alrededor de las 9 y 10 de la noche del jueves, informó la policía.La policía dio nombres o nombres parciales de siete de las víctimas confirmadas y agregó que “se sospecha que están muertos” los mineros en los túneles. No especificó cuántos mineros en total estaban en los túneles, pero el comisionado del distrito de Chingola, Raphael Chumupi, le dijo a The Associated Press que eran al menos 36.Funcionarios del gobierno ...

Report: Chronic absenteeism at DC public schools improves slightly, remains high

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

The number of D.C. public school students missing class has improved slightly in a new report, but still remains high.Chronic absenteeism dropped from 48% to 43% in the 2022 to 2023 school year in D.C. public schools, according to the attendance report by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education.The report found that truancy fell from 42% to 37% during the same time.The report comes at a time when there is an increased number of D.C. teachers leaving their jobs and fewer students repeating ninth grade despite reports of high chronic absenteeism.OSSE noted that only 2% of all public school instruction in the District was remote during the 2022 to 2023 school year.The report stated that high schoolers had the lowest attendance rate compared to elementary and middle school students.It found that 60% of high school students were chronically absent, compared to less than 40% of students in lower gradesWhen it comes to chronic truancy, elementary grades showed 28% were chr...

Euro 2024 draw ceremony interrupted by unexplained noises in German concert hall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — The draw ceremony for the European Championship in men’s soccer was disrupted by unexplained noises that competed for attention with the team names being read out on stage on Saturday.The interruption, which seemed to sound like sexual noises, was clearly heard for several minutes on the ceremony broadcast from a concert hall in Hamburg.UEFA director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti noted the noise in his commentary before continuing with the draw for the last six places for lower-ranked teams in the 24-nation tournament lineup. The sound continued sporadically until the draw was completed.Similar noises disrupted a BBC live broadcast of an English soccer game in January between Wolverhampton and Liverpool. It turned out to be a prank use of a mobile phone next to the studio.Euro 2024 is being played in 10 Germany cities from June 14 to July 14.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerSource

Germany wins U17 World Cup final for first time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

SURAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Germany won the Under-17 World Cup for the first time after beating France in a penalty shootout in the final on Saturday.The Germans won 4-3 after regulation time ended 2-2. Germany played the last 21 minutes with 10 men after Winners Osawe received a second yellow card. A first-half penalty by Paris Brunner gave Germany the lead in its first final since 1985. The lead was extended by captain Noah Darvich six minutes after the break.Saimon Bouabre pulled a goal back for France, champion in 2001. With a man advantage, France threw everything forward and was rewarded five minutes from the end when Mathis Amougou leveled and sent the final to penalties.Goalkeeper Konstantin Heide saved two of the French penalties. Almugera Kabar fired home the winning shot.“It was a pure fight,” Darvich said. “A sending off in a game like that is bitter and I was sacrificed and had to come off but as a team we did it perfectly.”Mali defeated Argentina 3-0 to take third plac...

EU, Mercosur give up on finalizing trade pact next week: Report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

Mercosur and the European Union have given up on reaching a free-trade agreement next week, CNN Brasil reported.The EU had hoped to finalize a trade deal with the Mercosur countries — Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina — in time for a December 7 summit of South American leaders in Brazil.But Argentina has notified Brazil, the current president of Mercosur, that it will not be able to make new commitments in the negotiations and that it intends to leave decisions to Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist outsider who won Argentina’s presidential election in November, according to the CNN Brasil report. The December 7 summit comes days before Milei’s inauguration.As a result of Argentina’s decision, a potential round of negotiations set for Rio de Janeiro during the Mercosur meeting was canceled, according to the report. A visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Mercosur gathering was also scrubbed, the report said. Milei’s vic...

Howie Carr: If it were anybody but Shannon O’Brien, I might feel a little sympathy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

Is this all there is?That was my first thought when I read about the bitter dispute between those two ditzy Democrat dowagers, Treasurer Deb Goldberg and former Treasurer Shannon O’Brien.It’s always sad, a hack-on-hack attack. It’s even worse when it’s two old ladies approaching the checkout counter trying to rip each other’s eyes out.For the record, Goldberg turns 70 in May, and Shannon will be 65 a month earlier.In their dotage, they should be playing canasta together, showing one another pictures of their grandchildren, complaining about the upcoming paltry COLA increases in their Social Security checks and making plans to meet for lunch at the Golden Corral in Delray Beach after New Year’s.Instead, they’re battling it out in court. In case you haven’t been following their antics, Goldberg appointed her predecessor to a $181,722-a-year sinecure at the Cannabis Control Commission.As one Internet wag observed yesterday:“Would it be inappropriate to call this a catfight? Asking for ...

Swing state Muslims outraged by president’s war stance vow to ditch Biden in 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Muslim community leaders from several swing states pledged to withdraw support for U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday at a conference in suburban Detroit, citing his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.Democrats in Michigan have warned the White House that Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could cost him enough support within the Arab American community to sway the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.Leaders from Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania gathered behind a lectern that read “Abandon Biden, ceasefire now” in Dearborn, Michigan, the city with the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States.More than 13,300 Palestinians — roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza — have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. Some 1,200 Israelis have been killed, mostly during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.Biden’s unwill...

Harris focuses on shaping a post-conflict Gaza during a diplomatic blitz in Dubai with Arab leaders

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:11:54 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris engaged in a speed round of diplomatic talks with Arab leaders on Saturday where she focused on shaping the outlook for a post-conflict Gaza while calling on Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians from the “devastating” bombardment. She made a hastily planned trip to the United Arab Emirates as the top American representative at the U.N. climate conference but the Israel-Hamas war was a main objective of her visit. She met with leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan and spoke by phone with Qatar’s emir. Her efforts to focus on what Gaza will look like once the fighting ends played out against the backdrop of an overpowering attack that Israel has unleashed on the crowded southern area of the territory since fighting resumed Friday morning after a weeklong truce.“As Israel defends itself, it matters how. The United States is unequivocal: International humanitarian law must be respected,” Harris...