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Michigan State Spartans take on USC Trojans in first round of NCAA Tournament

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

USC Trojans (22-10, 14-6 Pac-12) vs. Michigan State Spartans (19-12, 11-8 Big Ten)Columbus, Ohio; Friday, 12:15 p.m. EDTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Michigan State -1.5; over/under is 137.5BOTTOM LINE: The Michigan State Spartans and USC Trojans meet in the NCAA Tournament opening round.The Spartans are 11-8 against Big Ten opponents and 8-4 in non-conference play. Michigan State scores 70.2 points and has outscored opponents by 2.8 points per game.The Trojans are 14-6 in Pac-12 play. USC is 4-2 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.TOP PERFORMERS: Tyson Walker is scoring 14.6 points per game and averaging 2.5 rebounds for the Spartans. Joey Hauser is averaging 15.4 points and 5.6 rebounds over the last 10 games for Michigan State.Boogie Ellis is shooting 43.9% and averaging 18.0 points for the Trojans. Drew Peterson is averaging 1.4 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for USC.LAST 10 GAMES: Spartans: 5-5, averaging 72.1 points, 28.7 rebounds, 14.5 assists, 3.9 steals and 2.6 blocks ...

Texas Longhorns and Colgate Raiders square off in the opening round of NCAA Tournament

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

Colgate Raiders (26-8, 17-1 Patriot League) vs. Texas Longhorns (26-8, 12-6 Big 12)Des Moines, Iowa; Thursday, 7:25 p.m. EDTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Texas -13.5; over/under is 150.5BOTTOM LINE: The No. 5 Texas Longhorns and Colgate Raiders square off in the NCAA Tournament opening round.The Longhorns’ record in Big 12 games is 12-6, and their record is 14-2 in non-conference games. Texas is sixth in the Big 12 with 31.4 points per game in the paint led by Timmy Allen averaging 5.4.The Raiders’ record in Patriot League games is 17-1. Colgate leads the Patriot League scoring 78.6 points per game while shooting 51.4%.TOP PERFORMERS: Marcus Carr is averaging 15.9 points, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals for the Longhorns. Jabari Rice is averaging 15.9 points over the past 10 games for Texas.Oliver Lynch-Daniels averages 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Raiders, scoring 12.3 points while shooting 50.3% from beyond the arc. Keegan Records is averaging 15.9 points, 6.4 rebounds a...

Dutch pro-farmers party wins big in provincial elections

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

The farmer-friendly FarmerCitizenMovement (BBB) landed a major victory in Wednesday’s Dutch provincial elections, which determine the composition of the Senate.The rural party came from nowhere to finish ahead of Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) party in an election seen as a referendum on the government’s performance.The results call into question the Rutte government’s ability to implement harsh policies aimed at clamping down on nitrogen emissions from farms, which triggered huge farmers’ protests last summer — and confirm BBB’s meteoric rise in Dutch politics.BBB — which had no representative in the Senate before last night’s election — is set to win 15 out of 75 seats, becoming the largest force in the Parliament’s high chamber (tied with a Labor-Green coalition), ahead of VVD’s 10 seats, according to exit polls published by Dutch newswire ANP on Thursd...

Credit Suisse shares soar after announcing central bank aid

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse’s shares have soared 30% after it announced it will move to shore up its finances by borrowing up to nearly $54 billion from the Swiss central bank.It’s a massive swing Thursday after its shares plunged 30% on the SIX stock exchange a day earlier after its biggest shareholder said it would not put more money into the Swiss lender.That dragged down other European banks as fears about the banking system expanded overseas following the collapse of some U.S. banks.Credit Suisse, which was beset by problems long before the U.S. bank failures, said Thursday that it would exercise an option to borrow up to 50 billion francs ($53.7 billion) from the central bank. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse said it will move to shore up its finances, borrowing up to nearly $54 billion from the Swiss central bank after its shares plunged, dragging down other major European lenders in the wake of bank fail...

Baidu unveils ChatGPT-rival Ernie Bot; 650 companies sign up

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese search giant Baidu unveiled its artificial intelligence chatbot Ernie Bot, presenting its rival to the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT in a pre-recorded video presentation Thursday that appeared to disappoint investors.Baidu CEO Robin Li said Ernie Bot was still not perfected, but the company went ahead with presenting it due to high demand. Shares plunged 10% after Li showed a prerecorded demonstration of the Ernie bot instead of the real-time live demonstration of its capabilities that many had expected. They closed down 6.4%.During the demonstration, Ernie Bot was asked questions about a Chinese science-fiction novel, “The Three-Body Problem,” and was asked to make an image based on prompts.The Ernie in Ernie Bot stands for “Enhanced Representation of Knowledge Integration.”“Baidu has for over a decade persisted in investing in artificial intelligence … Ernie Bot is the result of many years of hard work,” said Li. He said the first version of Ernie Bot was devel...

Russian authorities detain dissident ex-mayor

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city was detained on Thursday on charges that could land him behind bars, part of authorities’ efforts to muzzle dissent.Yevgeny Roizman, a sharp critic of the Kremlin, is one of the most visible and charismatic opposition figures in Russia. He enjoyed broad popularity while serving as mayor of Yekaterinburg, a city of 1.5 million people in the Ural Mountains. Last year, Roizman, 60, who was the mayor from 2013 to 2018, faced accusations of discrediting the Russian military and was barred from attending public events, using the internet, telephone or mail and communicating with anyone other than his lawyers and close family.Police arrested Roizman on Thursday on charges of reposting material containing a reference to the organization led by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny that was banned by authorities. Roizman’s lawyer rejected the accusations, saying that the ex-mayor wasn’t even regist...

Decisive day for Macron’s pension gamble in tense France

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s standoff over a bill raising the retirement age heads toward a climax Thursday, either via a parliamentary vote or through a special presidential move to force it through the legislature.Garbage workers are keeping up their strikes, and students plan to march to the lower house of parliament as opponents of the bill pressure the government to abandon it. Nearly 500,000 people protested around the country Wednesday.Thursday is a crucial day for President Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 so that workers can pay more money into the system. If he can’t get a parliamentary majority in voting, he could risk imposing the unpopular changes unilaterally.Macron has promoted the pension changes as central to his vision for making the French economy more competitive. Unions remained combative late Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to vote against the plan and denouncing the government’s legal shortcuts to move the bill forward a...

Legault to visit Quebec town reeling from vehicle attack : In The News for Mar. 16

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Mar. 16 …What we are watching in Canada …Quebec Premier François Legault will today visit the eastern Quebec town where a pickup truck plowed into groups of pedestrians, killing two.Legault will be joined by opposition leaders and other politicians in Amqui, the small community in the lower St-Lawrence region, where he will meet with local residents and hold a news conference.Two men were killed and nine people were injured Monday when a man drove a truck down one of the eastern Quebec town’s main streets, allegedly hitting several different groups of pedestrians in what police have described as an intentional act.Thirty-eight-year-old Steeve Gagnon is facing two counts of dangerous driving causing death, and prosecutors have said more charges will follow.Legault said earlier this week that his visit to the ...

Legault, party leaders to visit Quebec town reeling after pedestrians killed by truck

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

AMQUI, Que. — Quebec Premier François Legault will today visit the eastern Quebec town where a pickup truck plowed into groups of pedestrians, killing two.Legault will be joined by opposition leaders and other politicians in Amqui, the small community in the lower St-Lawrence region, where he will meet with local residents and hold a news conference.Two men were killed and nine people were injured Monday when a man drove a truck down one of the eastern Quebec town’s main streets, allegedly hitting several different groups of pedestrians in what police have described as an intentional act.Thirty-eight-year-old Steeve Gagnon is facing two counts of dangerous driving causing death, and prosecutors have said more charges will follow.Legault said earlier this week that his visit to the shaken community is meant as a comforting gesture.A candlelight vigil is also planned in front of the Saint-Benoît-Joseph-Labre church at 7 p.m.This report by The Canadian Press was first published M...

‘Worse than an animal’: Mother enraged as killer claims Amanda Zhao might be alive

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:00:43 GMT

In 2002, Yang Baoying flew from China to Vancouver to identify her daughter Amanda Zhao’s body.The 21-year-old English student’s remains had been found stuffed in a suitcase in Mission, B.C., and Yang’s identification of her daughter was also confirmed by a police DNA test.Yang returned to Beijing with Zhao’s ashes. She had been “brought home,” her mother said.More than 20 years later, any sense of closure thatact offered has been torn apart by the claims of Zhao’s convicted killer, Ang Li, that he was framed by China’s government and Zhao might not be dead at all.Li said in an interview with New Zealand’s Herald on Sunday newspaper that Zhao could be “still alive and walking around somewhere,” as he described himself as a “political target.”Li, who served a prison sentence in China for killing Zhao, is now seeking refugee status in New Zealand, and posed for newspaper photographs draped in a Tibetan flag, his hands clasped in prayer.Yang told The Canadian Pr...