bet999 fun YMCA Writer Claims Hit Song Is NOT A Gay Anthem And Threatens Legal ActionThe life story of Luigi Nicholas Mangione changed dramatically Monday. Eight years ago, he was the valedictorian at Gilman, an elite, all-boys school in Baltimore, where the tuition is more than $37,000 per year for ninth through 12th grades. In 2020, he graduated with undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school. Now, he’s the subject of a manhunt that began a week ago after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered outside of a Hilton in New York City. That search led to a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where the 26-year-old was arrested on gun charges. Here’s a timeline based on police and public reports: Sunday, Nov. 24: Thompson’s killer arrived at 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, in New York City by bus, surveillance video shows, according to police. The bus traveled from Atlanta to New York, but it’s not clear where the suspect joined the ride. Wednesday, Dec. 4: The suspect was seen on surveillance footage at 5 a.m. outside a hostel on the city’s Upper West Side, where he is believed to have stayed, according to multiple reports. At 6:19 a.m. that morning, surveillance video shows him walking along 55th Street. More than 20 minutes later, at 6:44 a.m., Thompson was shot by a masked gunman outside of the Hilton Midtown. The gunman continued to shoot as he walked toward the victim. The suspect then fled the scene on a bike and rode into Central Park, according to police. The bike was left around 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, and then the suspect took a taxi to a bus depot at 178th Street. Monday, Dec. 9 Mangione was arrested in Altoona after getting off a Greyhound bus and being recognized by a McDonald’s employee. New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said he had a handwritten note that spoke to “his motivation and mindset,” including an “ill will toward corporate America.” Police said Mangione had a ghost gun — a homemade firearm — and a fake New Jersey driver’s license like the one used to check into a New York hostel. Have a news tip? Contact Candy Woodall at cwoodall@baltsun.com.It is only late November, no trophies are handed out at this time of year, or so the old adage goes, but there is little doubt that Liverpool are the best team in Europe right now. Their hope will be to maintain that status come the final in Munich on May 31 and, maybe, this could be another dress rehearsal for that occasion. It is not as if these two grand clubs have not acquainted each other at that stage of the competition in the past – even if Real Madrid will have to rally from this, a third defeat in five ties in this competition. In the newly formatted group stage, with all 36 teams lumped together, Liverpool deservedly sit on the summit having defeated the European champions in what felt like yet another special Anfield night. “Liverpool, Liverpool top of the league,” chanted their fans. Such is their dominance that applies to Europe as well as the Premier League. Liverpool’s record in all competitions reads played 19, won 17, drawn one and lost one, and that is truly remarkable. And formidable. Both sides missed penalties but Liverpool deserved the points on an evening when Jude Bellingham and, even more so, Kylian Mbappe failed to impose themselves. The only setback was a possible injury to the thrilling youngster Conor Bradley. Caoimhin Kelleher denies Kylian Mbappé from the spot! 😳 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) Anfield expected. Mbappe’s first run? The self-confessed Liverpool fan – well, they are his favourite Premier League team at least – was raucously booed. And booed even more, with a few cheers, when stole the ball away from him and released Darwin Nunez. Suddenly there was a chance with Thibaut Courtois doing well to get down low and divert the shot – although it struck Raul Asencio who had sprinted back. The ball trickled goalwards and was cleared off the line, when it was partly over the line, by the relieved defender. Asencio was then involved in a clash with Nunez off the ball. Both were deservedly booked. With that the temperature rose even higher. Ryan Gravenberch went over and play continued. Mbappe went on a dribble and also went down. A free-kick was given – provoking more Anfield outrage – with Antonio Rudiger running to tell captain Luka Modric to protest to the referee. Modric shrugged him off. Such behaviour is not the 39-year-old’s style and Gravenberch was booked anyway. It was Liverpool who threatened again as Curtis Jones forced his way through. The ball broke to Nunez who stabbed it – only for Courtois to again save Madrid. As he, of course, did in the Champions League final between these two clubs in Paris two years ago. Vinicius Junior scored the winning goal in that game but injury meant he was another absentee for Madrid along with Rodrygo. Still, that allowed Mbappe to move out to his preferred position on the left and there was certainly more threat from him there. It was a test for Bradley and the Northern Ireland international did brilliantly to run back 40 yards, slide in . Mbappe clapped his hands in frustration. The Kop roared its approval. A header from Nunez just skimmed past a post; another from Luis Diaz was punched away by Courtois and it continued to bounce from end to end. Liverpool carried the greater threat but it was wonderfully open and committed. It also felt like a tightrope was being walked. Gravenberch fouled Eduardo Camavinga and the Madrid bench were up, demanding another yellow which would have let to a red for the midfielder. Modric brought down Alexis Mac Allister and Virgil van Dijk ran to the referee also calling for a caution. He was ignored and half-time came – and with it an opportunity to draw breath. Liverpool were out early and pressed on. Even Modric was being hassled so much that he gave the ball away. Salah demanded a penalty, rightly turned down, Courtois saved a close-range Bradley header and finally the breakthrough was made and the 21-year-old right-back, inevitably, was involved. The ball was worked across the face of the Madrid penalty area by Jones with Mac Allister playing a smart one-two with Bradley. The midfielder shot low back across Courtois and this time the goalkeeper was beaten. Take a bow, Alexis Mac Allister! 👏 Anfield erupts with noise as Liverpool take the lead 🔊 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) Real were reeling and lost another player, Camavinga, to injury. Could they respond? There was a rash challenge from Andy Robertson, a gift, catching substitute Lucas Vasquez, and the penalty was given. Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher read Mbappe’s intentions, diving to his left to turn away the spot-kick and Anfield lapped it up. They lapped it up even more when Liverpool earned their own penalty. Salah ran at Ferland Mendy and the full-back brought him down – only for, astonishingly, the forward to drive his penalty wide. As he struck the ball there were cheers of anticipation followed by disbelief as it clipped the post. However, Cody Gakpo made sure of the victory. A corner was played short, the ball was returned to Robertson who crossed with the substitute rising unopposed to plant his header. Courtois stood and shook his head. As well he might. Madrid are the comeback kings. But not this time. Not against this Liverpool. 10:34 PM GMT Curtis Jones influential once again Curtis Jones (93.1%) had the best passing accuracy of any midfielder or forward to start the Liverpool vs Real Madrid game. A lovely symmetry to his pass viz, too. | — Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) 10:30 PM GMT Slot’s family are in Liverpool this week They took a few days off school to be here. They will here for Man City but it will not influence the game! Though sometimes my father gives me good advice. To have family around, it is always a good thing, because you don’t have to be focused for 24 hours... 18 hours maybe! 10:27 PM GMT Jude Bellingham’s post-match thoughts I think to be fair, from the first minute they took control of the game. We never took advantage of our spells in the game, we tried to force it and turned the ball over too many times. I thought they were more up for it, which was disappointing. It’s a bad result against probably the best-performing team in Europe. There is no disgrace in losing here but we are not happy with it. The penalty is a big moment in the game, but he’s wonderful player and the pressure he holds his huge. The penalty is not the reason he lost the game, they were better than us. Kylian can hold his head high, he is going to produce many moments that are huge for this club. 10:20 PM GMT Arne Slot’s post-match thoughts I wouldn’t say its the same as any other win because you know how special it is to beat this team, who have dominated Europe in recent years and been a pain in the arse for Liverpool as well! We say it is a big week, but we have a big week next week too. When you start at a new club, you want to implement your playing style as quickly as possible, which is not so different from Jurgen, especially without the ball. With the ball, we have changed some details but not too many. I felt we were too impatient in the first half, every time they threatened us was from us forcing it or being sloppy. I said at half-time that there is more in us, that we can play with more intensity and use the ball better. 10:16 PM GMT The moment that lit the fuse for Liverpool Conor Bradley’s challenge on Kylian Mbappe caused Anfield to erupt, and from there Liverpool started to turn the screw. Liverpool fans will be hoping his hamstring problem was just linked to fatigue. Jeremy Wilson breaks down . 10:13 PM GMT Kelleher on the City game I think confidence is high in the whole squad. Man City, we know they have had a tough few results but what a team. We expect a really tough test but this is good confidence for the team and we will go again. 10:01 PM GMT What to make of Real Madrid? They have now lost three matches from five in the Champions League and are staring at a play-off round and two additional matches. Real are testament to the idea that ‘squad depth’ is an overrated concept; no team can sustain their highest level of performance while missing half a dozen or more important players. They are threadbare at the back right now, and whether the fault lies with club or player, they are nowhere near to seeing the best of Kylian Mbappe. 09:55 PM GMT FT: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Arne Slot’s Liverpool march on, clear at the top of the Premier League and the only team in the Champions League with a perfect record. Their first win over Real Madrid since 2009. It is not mathematically confirmed. but with 15 points on the board and RB Leipzig, AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid ticked off, Liverpool are surely assured of a top-eight finish. A well deserved victory. They were by far the more threatening attacking force, and in spells looked like they could create danger at will. Not much cause for encouragement if you are a watching Man City fan. The one worry for Liverpool is that Konate is down and receiving treatment at full time. 09:52 PM GMT 93 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Kelleher with another save, this time to deny Diaz from a tight angle. Could he have cut the ball back for Mbappe? 09:50 PM GMT 92 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Vazquez with a shot from 25 yards, comfortably saved by Kelleher. That is Real’s only shot on target from open play. 09:50 PM GMT 90 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 There are four minutes of added time to play, and Liverpool almost had a third. Luis Diaz, who has been quietly very good, goes from the dink beyond Courtois but the goalkeeper stayed up to save. 09:46 PM GMT 89 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Fran Garcia with some sharp play, and Mbappe cuts inside and sees a shot deflect of Mac Allister’s heel and not too far wide of the post. Corner cleared, before Bellingham is flagged offside in the second phase. 09:44 PM GMT 87 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 This is very unfortunate for Conor Bradley who has been outstanding: he has pulled up and looks to be mouthing hamstring to the physios. He is back on his feet now, and making his way off the pitch unaided. Joe Gomez is going to replace him. When they said Real Madrid wanted LFC's right back, which one did they mean? 😀😀😀😀 — Chris Bascombe (@_ChrisBascombe) What a performance 🔥🏃🏻‍♂️ ⚽️ 🏆 — Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) 09:43 PM GMT 85 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Some of Liverpool’s one-touch play and direct attacking has been so impressive tonight, slicing through Real and galloping forward at a frightening lick. Liverpool are going to be only team of 36 on maximum points after five Champions League games. 09:41 PM GMT 83 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Szoboszlai has replaced Curtis Jones. That change might be about saving Jones’ legs for Sunday’s game against Manchester City. The Anfield crowd are singing Arne Slot’s song now. 09:38 PM GMT 81 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 Bradley on the front foot yet again, winning a loose ball and drawing a foul from Fran Garcia. Ceballos is booked for complaining about the decision. This is turning into a statement performance by Liverpool, Slot on the verge of venturing where Klopp could not go by beating Real Madrid. 09:37 PM GMT 79 minutes: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0 We are going to see the 18-year-old Brazilian forward Endrick. He replaces Luka Modric, who receives warm applause from the Anfield crowd. 09:35 PM GMT GOOOAALL! Gakpo doubles Liverpool’s lead A short corner from Liverpool, and Robertson’s inswinging cross finds the head of Gakpo to plant a header beyond Courtois. Great leap from the Dutchman, but VAR will be checking this for offside because he was moving back...goal given! Liverpool DOUBLE their lead! Cody Gakpo comes off the bench to score a towering header 💥 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 09:34 PM GMT 76 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 Luis Diaz is playing in a central position now, with Gakpo wide left. Fran Garcia has replaced Mendy, and straight away the substitute is required to make a back-post header with Salah lurking. 09:32 PM GMT 73 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 Real have shown more as an attacking force since going behind, but once again Liverpool defend stoutly up against Mbappe. Slot’s team are still finding lots of space on the counter. The danger for Liverpool is when they fail to finish those moves and Real get the chance to counter the counter. 09:29 PM GMT SALAH MISSES! As he has done on more than one occasion in his Liverpool career, Salah has slashed a penalty wide when going for power. Sliced it with the outside of his foot and his penalty clipped the post. Real Madrid still alive. Salah and Mbappe have both missed penalty. Liverpool have the chance to extend their lead but Mo Salah misses the penalty ❌ 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 09:28 PM GMT LIVERPOOL PENALTY! Salah has done Mendy all ends up here, after a brilliant outside of the foot pass from Diaz to set him away on the break. Mendy was preoccupied with trying to stop Salah cutting inside and ended up in a contorted position. Salah chopped beyond him and was tripped. Certain penalty. 09:26 PM GMT 68 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 Kelleher with another save, but Brahim Diaz was offside in any case after Mbappe’s pass through. 09:24 PM GMT 66 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 Bellingham fouls Mac Allister with a pretty desperate challenge. Gakpo is getting ready to replace Nunez. Liverpool win the ball back with some manic pressing, Mendy’s heavy touch giving Bradley the chance to pounce. 09:23 PM GMT 65 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 After tonight’s performance by Bradley and Kelleher, the next big contract rewards at Anfield should go to Liverpool’s Irish scouts! 09:22 PM GMT 64 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool now defending in numbers to hold up Diaz in the box. In the moments leading up to the penalty, Salah tried to set Nunez away but his pass was intercepted. Slot might want his team to slow down and keep the ball a little more. The only way Real can find a way back into this is if it becomes a see-saw game. 09:20 PM GMT KELLEHER SAVES FROM MBAPPE! First Connor Bradley and now Kelleher have won the battle of wits with Mbappe. The forward went with the inside of his right foot, but there was not enough power to beat Kelleher who saved plunging down to his left. What a moment for surely the best back-up goalkeeper around. Caoimhin Kelleher denies Kylian Mbappé from the spot! 😳 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 09:19 PM GMT PENALTY REAL! The first piece of football Real have strung together since half-time. Mbappe got the better of Bradley on the outside, his low cross was cleared. Ceballos spread play to Vazquez with Modric dummying, and Robertson is penalised for tripping Vazquez with a trailing leg. Soft, but little chance it was getting overturned. 09:15 PM GMT 57 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 A double sub from Real: Ceballos and Vazquez on, Guler and Camavinga on. Vazquez has gone to right-back with Valverde in midfield. Real are now even more depleted than when the game kicked off. 09:13 PM GMT Another second-half goal from Liverpool They used to say kicking towards the Kop was worth a goal for Liverpool. Slot is maintaining the tradition this season. It was coming from the start of the second half. 09:13 PM GMT 54 minutes: Liverpool 1 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool rampant now, with Curtis Jones surging through midfield and playing a one-two with Diaz. He tees up Mac Allister at the edge of the box but he shoots wide. It goes from bad to worse for Real: Camavinga has pulled a hamstring chasing Jones. Dani Ceballos is about to replace him. 09:11 PM GMT GOOOOAAALL! Mac Allister gives Liverpool the lead They have been knocking on the door since the restart and it has finally opened. Nice interplay around the edge of the Real box, with Mac Allister exchanging a give and go with Bradley. The right back’s lay off was well weighted, and Mac Allister’s finish back through legs wrong-footed Courtois and found the bottom corner. Take a bow, Alexis Mac Allister! 👏 Anfield erupts with noise as Liverpool take the lead 🔊 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 09:09 PM GMT 51 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Very bright football from Liverpool, and Conor Bradley almost pops up with the opening goal! Mac Allister with a lofted ball into the box to find the right-back’s run from deep, but Bradley’s header was too close to Courtois. 09:08 PM GMT 49 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool remain on the front foot. Modric’s loose pass from his own box is straight to Gravenberch. Salah goes down looking for a penalty under challenge from Mendy, but nothing doing. That was more of a Kop appeal than anything else. Liverpool then box Camavinga in before Rudiger almost gifts Jones a present with a poor pass inside his own box, but Guler recovered to get a toe to the ball. 09:06 PM GMT 47 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool looking dangerous within the first minute of the half, but Jones could not get the ball out of his feet to shot. They the home team win a corner through Bradley. Van Dijk and Konate are up. Cleared, but only to Jones at the edge of the box. Clean strike after a nice first touch, Jones’ shot deflects behind for a corner. Courtois claims. 09:03 PM GMT We’re back under way in the second half Liverpool get the second 45 minutes starting, shooting towards the Kop. Applause from behind the goal from Thibaut Courtois. 08:53 PM GMT The Real Madrid conundrum Madrid are an extraordinary side in that they can look very ordinary, but then you know they are just awaiting the moment to strike. Kelleher is yet to make a save, but rather than weather a storm, the Madrid defence has to deal with a couple of light showers. There has been a lot of quality without the anticipated explosion, Bradley’s tackle on Mbappe bringing the loudest roar and preceding the first prolonged spell of pressure on Madrid’s defence. Slot will be warning his booked players to take care in the second half, however. 08:48 PM GMT HT: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 In the final moments of the half, there was more sound defending from Bradley against Mbappe, who looks a shadow of his best self. Camavinga started the attack with more sterling work in midfield. This has been an intense, high-level 45 minutes, but Liverpool have had the better chances by quite some margin. Two eye-catching saves from Courtois plus that early goal-line clearance from Asensio. Bradley and Nunez have been very good for Liverpool, as have the centre-backs. Camavinga the pick of the bunch for Real. Bradley’s tackle on Mbappe probably the highlight of the half: One of the best tackles you'll see from Conor Bradley on Kylian Mbappé ⛔ — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 08:45 PM GMT 44 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Mbappe pinched the ball off Bradley but Van Dijk did ever so well later in the attack to stand up and win the ball cleanly against the French forward. Camavinga is winning so many challenges in the middle of the pitch, feels like he is taking Liverpool on alone in there. 08:44 PM GMT 42 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Helped by the crowd’s anger with some refereeing decisions, the game has gone a little haywire which is entertaining but I doubt either manager will be pleased by the frantic nature of it. Liverpool clear a Real corner, and Nunez does really well to carry the ball forward before spreading play right. Real recover to slow down Jones. 08:41 PM GMT 40 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Bellingham involved in some neat Real football through midfield, Guler is tripped by Mac Allister who is booked. The Liverpool midfielder will now miss the game in Girona with a suspension. Then Bellingham let the ball run after he was pressed in his own half, and Real suddenly had a five-on-three, but Modric could not pick a pass from a wide left position and then he fouls Konate. 08:38 PM GMT 38 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool have the bit between their teeth at the moment, they are bossing almost all of the duels, Real are struggling to make the ball stick up front. Jones clips a shot over the bar, before Rudiger positions himself well to clear Robertson’s cross. Great tempo to the game, but still no breakthrough goal. 08:34 PM GMT 34 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool go close with a couple of headed efforts. The first, from Nunez, had Courtois is more trouble, a glancing header that the goalkeeper had to tip around the post. Then Courtois punches clear a Diaz header back across goal. Anfield is up now, this is a dangerous spell for the Spanish side. 08:33 PM GMT 32 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 The loudest cheer of the night so far at Anfield is for Conor Bradley, who has just nailed Mbappe and won the ball cleanly with an outstanding defensive challenge. Real broke after that Liverpool free-kick and Mbappe was travelling at full speed beyond Mac Allister, but Bradley ate up the ground and hooked the ball clear with a forceful but very fair sliding challenge. If Liverpool win this game, that Conor Bradley on Kylian Mbappe tackle will live long in the memory. 08:31 PM GMT 30 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Mendy is penalised for holding Salah. Liverpool free-kick in a crossing position wide right. It looked a little soft but Liverpool will not care. Rudiger and Van Dijk chirping away at each other in the box. Clipped in by Mac Allister, Courtois punches clear. 08:29 PM GMT 28 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 A couple of lovely moments from Camavinga in midfield for Real Madrid, first an incisive carry and then a diagonal pass out to Mbappe. Bellingham then wins a corner, Mordric to take. Konate glances a header away before Guler slices a show wide from distance. 08:26 PM GMT 26 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Real Madrid showing their Champions League strut by playing out of their own box at Anfield. Courtois with a chipped pass and then Bellingham protects the ball well to win a foul. They are yet to really test Kelleher, though. Slot will be happy enough with what he has seen, but no goal. 08:24 PM GMT 24 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool’s second big chance of the night but Courtois smothers! A bit of pinball in the box, but Curtis Jones barrels his way beyond Asensio and the ball fell for Nunez to hit on the volley six or seven yards out. The goalkeeper stood his ground and made a vital block. Liverpool’s game on chances so far. 08:22 PM GMT 22 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Liverpool finding it harder to feed Gravenberch on the turn now, so more of their possession is in front of the Real Madrid defensive block. Nunez tracking back into his own half is commendable, but his defending is clumsy and he concedes a free-kick in a dangerous position. Dragged down Camavinga, 25 yards out right of centre. Guler takes and shoots...well over the bar. Nunez obviously needs to be careful. His duel with Raul Asencio has been a feature of the game, but the early booking should be the signal to stop diving into challenges. The referee is card happy. 08:20 PM GMT 19 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Real Madrid looked to have a four-against-two down their right momentarily, but Valverde’s dinked cross to the back post was too heavy. Excellent defending on the cover from Real’s young defender Asensio, up against the menacing and much faster Nunez. Then Real enjoy some considered possession in the middle of the pitch to the sound of some whistles. 08:18 PM GMT 17 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 The Anfield crowd are furious. They believe they should have had a free-kick around 25 yards from goal, nothing given, and from the subsequent break, Gravenberch is penalised and booked when Mbapped appeared to have merely ran into him. Speaking of the crowd, there have been some boos for Bellingham early on. He was linked with a move to Liverpool from Dortmund. Pantomime stuff really. Loudest Kop jeers so far reserved for Bellingham and Mbappe - two players who were of interest to Liverpool, of course. 08:16 PM GMT 15 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 I once watched Brahim Diaz play for Man City’s Under-18s in a Youth Cup tie at the Emirates, and thought they had found a faster David Silva. Didn’t quite work out for him at City, but he is doing alright for himself now. Real win their first corner but Robertson heads clear. Modric has pinged a couple of switches so far, but Liverpool looking fairly comfortable defensively. 08:13 PM GMT 13 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Some grappling in the penalty area between Asensio and Nunez, and the Liverpool forward flops to the turf holding his face. There was no hint of a punch, slap or a headbutt there, Nunez was trying to pull a fast one, but both players have been shown a yellow card. Real make a meal of clearing the near-post corner, but they do eventually. 08:11 PM GMT 10 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Luis Diaz drags a shot wide of the near post when he had time to steady himself and make a better decision. Konate with a telling defensive header to prevent a chipped through ball finding Mbappe. It looks like Real have tweaked their defensive shape to more of a 4-4-2 now with Diaz right and Bellingham on the left. Liverpool have a corner after Mendy challenges Salah. 08:09 PM GMT 8 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Very open start to this game. Valverde with an interception on the stretch to prevent Diaz getting in down the left. Then Real pinch the ball high after a slack moment from Van Dijk but Guler runs down a blind alley. The Liverpool play out nicely and release Jones. Too much space in Real’s midfield at the moment, Liverpool not encountering much resistance when they have the ball. 08:06 PM GMT 4 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 Asensio clears one off the line for Real Madrid to spare himself an own goal! It all started from Salah robbing Mbappe of possession inside the Liverpool half, and from there the home team sprung the counter-attack through a Nunez burst. Nice pass slipped through from Salah for Nunez to strike from a tight angle. Saved by Courtois, the rebound bounced off Asensio, but he scrambled back to clear off the line. 08:03 PM GMT 2 minutes: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 It is something of a challenge trying to decipher Real Madrid’s shape. It looks like Arda Guler is operating as a false nine in between Diaz and Mbappe. Bellingham, Modric and Camavinga in midfield, with Valverde at right-back in a back four. Asensio and Rudiger the centre-halves with Mendy at left-back. Both teams moving the ball through the thirds quite smoothly in the first few minutes, this is shaping up to be a good watch. 08:00 PM GMT KICK OFF! Real Madrid get the game started, shooting towards the Kop in the first half. 07:56 PM GMT The players are in the tunnel The atmosphere sounds like it is building nicely at Anfield, even if this new Champions League format does take some of the edge away from the occasion. Real without Rodrygo, Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba. Liverpool will be attacking a makeshift back four. Luka Modric starts in midfield aged 39. 07:45 PM GMT Slot’s pre-match thoughts If we want to win against Real Madrid, we have to do many, many things well for the whole game. When your concentration slips a bit, they have the ability to do you harm. We have to be on top of your game for every second I always pick the strongest team for the next game, but that does not always mean the best XI players because I have many good players. If we play twice in three days and some players didn’t start, it can be that reason or it can be because of the type of player for what we will face. He [Salah] has been in the media since he played for Liverpool especially so he is used to it. If he doesn’t play a good game tonight it’s because of Real Madrid but I expect him to be the same Mo Salah he has been for many years for this club. 07:38 PM GMT What a night for Conor Bradley Mbappe has been used as a central striker by Real, but he moves left tonight in the absence of Vinicius Junior, pitting him against Conor Bradley. The young Liverpool full-back had a good run in the team last season, but he is best moments came when storming forward, such as his goal against Chelsea. A duel with Mbappe is surely the most stringent defensive test of his career so far. 07:32 PM GMT Real Madrid’s escapology act Speaking to Michael Owen before the game, one of the observations that did not make the cut in our is how Real Madrid have been Liverpool’s Kryptonite since the last win under Rafa Benitez 15 year ago. “A lot of teams will say that, though,” said Owen. “They have been dominant without being this incredible, ground-breaking side like other European champions of the past. I thought Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool were better teams in games in which they were beaten by Real. “But Real have the ability to squirm past sides - they have the know-how. Liverpool and Manchester City must be sick of them. Now Real look better on paper but they won’t fancy playing Liverpool.” 07:31 PM GMT Courtois and Salah meet again tonight 07:21 PM GMT Curtis Jones looks Arne Slot’s man right now When everyone is fit, it’s Curtis Jones vs Dominik Szoboszlai for the third midfield spot. Arne Slot’s faith in the Liverpool-born man is showing again as he gets the vote. Given Szoboszlai is considered in his homeland to be the next Ferenc Puskas - Hungary’s Real Madrid legend, of course - he might be simmering on the bench. He should be motivated to prove the manager wrong when he is likely to come on during the later stages. 07:11 PM GMT Gareth Bale reminded of his poor Anfield record “Yeah, but I won the ones when it mattered,” Bale replies, in reference to the 2018 and 2022 finals. Bale scored one of the competition’s greatest final goals in Kiev. 07:04 PM GMT It looks Curtis Jones’ midfield shirt to lose Dominik Szoboszlai has been full of running since he joined Liverpool in summer 2023, but his decision-making and execution has been very inconsistent. It looks like Curtis Jones has moved ahead of him to be Liverpool’s third midfielder alongside Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister. As Slot said in his pre-match press conference, Alexander-Arnold is on the bench and is not expected to play many minutes tonight. Will he be thrown back in against City? 07:02 PM GMT Liverpool’s team coach arriving Evening, Reds 👋 — Liverpool FC (@LFC) 06:59 PM GMT Ancelotti on the challenge facing Real this evening It will be a very entertaining match, as always. Two historic clubs in this competition, each with its own characteristics. We’ll have to see who has the character and personality to show it on the pitch. Liverpool has always been very competitive and very dangerous. It was under (Juergen) Klopp, and it is with the new coach. 06:51 PM GMT Liverpool starting XI: Jones preferred to Szoboszlai, Alexander-Arnold on bench Team news! 📣 Alexander-Arnold only fit enough for the bench Liverpool 🆚 Real Madrid | — Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) 06:42 PM GMT Slot on Real Madrid’s Champions League ‘aura’ I cannot talk for all the other teams they face but when I worked at my former club (Feyenoord) I said many times we should take the (example) of Madrid, that they always find a way to win. They can win it in different ways and that is probably one of the reasons - apart from them having so much quality - that they won this tournament a lot. I can only speak for myself but maybe the players feel the same. They can win by being dominant and outplaying the opponent, but if it is a difficult game they always find a way to win the game or go to the next round. 06:38 PM GMT Gareth Bale is taking a break from the golf course The former Real Madrid man and five-time Champions League winner is at Anfield on punditry duty tonight. 06:14 PM GMT Making sense of that Real Madrid team No Rodrygo or Vinicius, so former Manchester City academy product Brahim Diaz and, you would think, Kylian Mbappe on the flanks. Mbappe vs Alexander-Arnold is the match-up Gareth Southgate always seemed keen to avoid as England manager, though the Liverpool right-back is not expected to be fit enough to start. Antonio Rudiger, Ferland Mendy and Raúl Asencio are the only recognised defenders on the team sheet. Camavinga has played at left-back previously, but that is Mendy’s position. Valverde at right-back? Or a back three with a midfield diamond? We shall see. With Jude Bellingham expected to take up a roving central attacking position, it is more like the dynamic Real had in this competition this season. It would sound ludicrous, and could look ludicrous by the end of the night, to say Real’s team is better without Vinicius but it does solve the dilemma of how to fit the Brazilian, Mbappe and Bellingham into one team against strong opposition. 06:06 PM GMT Real Madrid starting XI 📋✅ Our starting XI! 🆚 — Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) 06:05 PM GMT Best betting sites Betting on the football today? Take a look at for free bets and betting offers. 06:03 PM GMT Sign up to our Telegraph Football newsletter 06:03 PM GMT Man of the moment Mohamed Salah can reverse fortunes vs Real Madrid Beating a Real Madrid side deprived of Vinicius Junior would not quite avenge Liverpool’s 2018 and 2022 Champions League final defeats, but it would confirm Arne Slot’s team as serious candidates to win the competition this season. Liverpool are the only club of 36 in the Champions League who retain a chance of taking maximum points from their first five games, and victory tonight would likely leave them requiring just one more win to confirm a top-eight finish. There is no disgrace in having Real as your bogey team, but they have been something of a scourge for Liverpool who are winless against the Spanish club in their last eight competitive meetings. Their last win was a 4-0 thrashing at Anfield in the 2009 Champions League last 16. The 2018 final in Kiev brought pain in more than one respect, with Mohamed Salah’s night ended prematurely by a shoulder injury sustained in a tangle with Real defender Sergio Ramos. Salah could well have been the match-winner four years later in Paris, but was repelled repeatedly by Thibaut Courtois as Jurgen Klopp missed out on his reign’s second European Cup. Plenty of motivation for Salah then, who is in the spotlight after suggesting he is closer to leaving Liverpool at the end of the season than staying. Salah says he is yet to receive a contract offer from Liverpool, with his current deal expiring in the summer. The situation looks far from decided and Salah’s statement could well be brinkmanship, but it is an unwanted distraction after such a serene start to the Slot era. Liverpool face Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, when they will have the chance to pull 11 points clear of the champions. With Liverpool already on 12 points in the Champions League’s new league phase, Slot might be tempted to prioritise that match but you do not rest players for European Cup meetings with Real Madrid (unless of course, you are Brendan Rodgers in 2014). The competition holders are without Vinicius because of a muscular injury, but that might afford Carlo Ancelotti the chance to find a better tactical balance. Accommodating the winger, Jude Bellingham and summer arrival Kylian Mbappe has proved difficult for Real, who have been turned over by Lille and AC Milan so far in Europe. Full team news on the way shortly.

The countdown to launch has begun for a small Washington state company developing something long dreamed of in the space industry. Andy Lapsa, co-founder and CEO of Stoke Space, a standout in the state’s burgeoning space technology industry, calls it “this Holy Grail of rocketry, which is fully, rapidly reusable rockets.” At Stoke’s newly built headquarters in Kent, engineers and technicians are assembling the giant barrel-shaped sections of a rocket and two very different engines designed to make not just the booster but the upper stage of the spacecraft reusable. The goal is a rocket capable of launching into orbit, returning to Earth and then lifting off again almost daily. The plan, said Tom Feldman, Stoke co-founder, is spaceflight on “an aircraftlike schedule.” This would provide transformative cost savings and access that could open up space for commercial expansion and accelerate further innovation. Kelly Hennig, Stoke’s chief operating officer, said the initial rocket launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral is planned toward the end of next year, though that one will be expendable, not reused. Reaching the Holy Grail, she said, will take about another year beyond that. Stoke is designing and building its rocket in Kent and test firing engine prototypes at Moses Lake in Central Washington. There, on 75 sprawling acres of sagebrush desert, tall white fuel tanks containing liquid hydrogen, oxygen or liquid natural gas rise like pillars around a set of intricately designed test facilities. Those include a test stand for the booster-stage engine, rising above a 60-foot-deep flame trench where the first hotfire engine test is scheduled for later this month. Nearby is a smaller engine stand, where Stoke has already been testing what engineer Sophia Yu calls an “insane engine” with a unique ring-of-fire design that will power the second stage of the rocket. “It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” said Yu, 27, who joined Stoke in March after 3 1⁄2 years at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company, also headquartered in Kent. At Moses Lake last year, Stoke conducted a short hop-and-hover test of a second-stage prototype, successfully demonstrating that engine. Lapsa said leading his just over 160 employees to develop his rocket has been “an unbelievable experience.” Stoke is hiring and expects to double in size next year. Butch and Sundance Lapsa and Feldman met as rocket propulsion engineers at Blue Origin and left to found Stoke in fall 2019. On a tour of the new headquarters, the two were an odd-couple team. Lapsa, 42, trim with silvering hair and a boyish face, wore a neat black T-shirt and jeans in tech startup fashion, the image of someone who has so far raised more than $185 million from venture capitalists. Endearingly, fashion seems of zero concern to his buddy Feldman, 36, who wore his standard work uniform: faded blue denim cutoff shorts with a puffy black vest, his hair sticking out every which way from under a baseball cap. Lapsa, who’d worked at Blue for more than a decade, said leaving to start a company on their own was “easily the hardest decision that I’ve made.” Feldman had been at Blue just over six years. Shaping Stoke’s engineering concept, he said, “We spent the first six months working out of my basement, heads down, doing the math on, like, ‘Is this a good idea?’ Combined with, like, ‘How do you start a company and raise money?'” At the time, he had a 3-month-old baby at home, and the two engineers had no Rolodex of financiers to call. “We really just jumped off the cliff together,” Feldman said. A “ring-of-fire” engine Together, they’ve created something new. Feldman, who says he chose to study rocket propulsion in college because it seemed “the most badass engineering thing to do,” notes that space rockets are basically giant cylindrical fuel tanks with fiery engines at their base. Typically a large, powerful engine lifts the payload from the bounds of Earth’s gravity. Then that stage separates and a smaller second stage pushes it the rest of the way into orbit or further in space. While early NASA space programs developed expendable rockets that were used once then fell away into the ocean, Elon Musk’s Texas-based SpaceX and Bezos’ Kent-based Blue Origin succeeded in designing first-stage rockets that could land and be reused. More than half a century after the Apollo moon landings, the engineering ingenuity has fired up the public imagination and a new generation’s enthusiasm for space technology. SpaceX last month achieved a startling feat: “catching” its giant new Starship’s first stage between the waiting arms of the launch tower. Musk’s not-yet-achieved goal is also to land and make reusable the Starship’s second stage. Stoke too aims to have a reusable second stage. That’s a difficult design problem because the second stage will burn like a meteor when it reenters the atmosphere and requires a heat shield to survive. SpaceX plans for the second stage of Starship to “belly flop” through the atmosphere with about 18,000 tiles protecting the belly, then flip to a vertical position when near the ground. Stoke has devised a very different, more elegant solution. Its second-stage rocket will come down vertically. The design problem was how to fire an engine that would slow the rocket’s descent when there’s a domed heat shield in the way to protect the circular base. The result is that Stoke’s novel design looks nothing like a standard rocket engine, which typically has a large, bell-shaped exhaust nozzle. Instead, around the heat shield’s circular perimeter, 24 small thrusters will fire to slow the rocket’s descent in a “ring of fire.” The heat shield is deeply integrated with the thrusters so that it’s part of the engine. The second-stage rocket’s fuel — cryogenic hydrogen — is also used as coolant fed through intricate internal channels in the heat shield. When the shield gets hotter, it heats the fuel in these channels, which then drives the pumps faster and automatically increases the cold fuel flow through the heat shield. On NASA’s now-retired space shuttle and on Starship’s second stage, each of the thousands of heat shield tiles must be inspected closely for damage before reuse. But Lapsa said Stoke’s heat shield is designed to be “just as indestructible as possible.” Its design is so robust that “even if it was shot with a 9-mm pistol” and suffered a fuel leak, “it would still work,” said Feldman. Building the pieces of this rocket In January last year, Stoke moved into a new 168,000-square-foot Kent headquarters, where the workforce is young and diverse. Manufacturing engineer McKenzie Kinzbach, 28, who previously worked at SpaceX and Universal Hydrogen, said that in a field still dominated by men, she found Stoke’s culture welcoming for women. A tour of the facility this month started at a control room that allows remote viewing and monitoring of tests at Moses Lake and future launches at Cape Canaveral. Beyond that, in a high-ceilinged, clean factory space, engineers and technicians worked to complete rocket engines, heat shields shaped like giant satellite TV dishes 14 feet in diameter, and immense stainless steel barrel sections that will make up the body of the rocket. The body of Stoke’s 123-foot-tall rocket has remarkably thin walls, less than a tenth of an inch thick. The steel arrives here as flat sheet metal, which is cut with lasers and formed in-house. Some small spherical internal fuel tanks made of steel are blown up like balloons. Stoke’s rocket will have seven large engines on the first stage, burning oxygen and liquid natural gas and each developing 100,000 pounds of thrust. Inside the chambers where the fuel combusts, the temperature rises to about 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Engine parts engineered with cooling features to withstand that temperature are made from copper, inconel — a nickel-chromium alloy resistant to extreme heat — and a proprietary material Stoke has developed for components that interface with hot oxygen. The thrust chambers, turbine housings, fuel injectors and nozzles are all manufactured using 3D printers large enough to make metal components up to 2 feet tall. The parabolic heat shield is fabricated by welding together 198 rectangular panels, each one 3D printed with those intricate coolant channels embedded. A test site carved out of the desert When Katherine Cruz, Stoke’s vice president of test operations and another Blue Origin alumnus, arrived in the spring of 2021 to set up Stoke’s Moses Lake site, it was an expanse of empty desert and they had no power, internet or piped water. She said it took “grit and a lot of passion” to build the impressive test facility. At the entrance of the site, a “light tree” with green, amber and red lights indicates access restrictions to each test area. When a hotfire test is imminent, a red light means no one can go in. “We’re intentionally playing with fire,” said Cruz, 33. In June, impatient to test-fire its first-stage engine, Stoke mounted it on a stand and shot its fiery exhaust out horizontally into empty desert. With a massive new test stand now complete, that engine can now be tested in its proper vertical orientation. This month, engineers will hang the engine from heavy metal rings built into the top of the reinforced concrete structure and let that exhaust flow downward into a “flame diverter” stretching 60 feet below. Stoke broke ground on this newest structure just a year ago, digging out a deep, wide trench below and at its lowest point installing the flame diverter — a tall, curving waterfall of pipes underneath where the engine will hang. In a hotfire test, water will be pumped through those pipes and gush from holes directly under the rocket engine’s fiery plume to absorb the energy. The steam produced will rush along the 165-foot-wide, 262-foot-long gash in the desert floor. To find out if the novel ring-of-fire concept was feasible, Stoke built a smaller stand for testing that engine first and has fired it hundreds of times since 2022. An updated version of that engine is now being assembled in Kent and will begin testing early next year. “The intention of this next iteration engine is to get very, very close to what we are hoping to fly,” said Cruz. The mission and the vision The space industry in the Pacific Northwest has swelled in recent years and spawned a host of startup companies. The sector is anchored by Blue Origin in Kent and two major satellite projects: Amazon’s Project Kuiper in Kirkland and SpaceX’s Starlink in Redmond. Other notable companies include Aerojet Rocketdyne, now part of L3Harris, in Redmond, and BlackSky in Seattle. Kelly Maloney, co-founder of the trade group Space Northwest, said the industry now supports 13,000 direct employees with currently about 1,500 open positions. Stoke’s avionics manufacturing manager James Miller, 32, who worked at Blue Origin for six years and then on Project Kuiper at Amazon, said he took a cut in salary to move to Stoke 2 1⁄2 years ago. When he interviewed and heard the details of Stoke’s technology plan, “I said, ‘Man, I really can’t say no to this. This is too cool.’ " Technician manager David Hilts-Hoskins, 31, grew up in Puyallup and learned his mechanical skills mostly working on boats before he joined Blue Origin. After eight years there, he joined Stoke in January. “I love all the novelty of everything,” he said. “It’s been amazing.” Stoke assembly manager Tyler Crews, 37, likewise learned his skills practically, not in college, “hands-on and really being curious.” He was raised in Lynnwood, his dad worked for Boeing and his whole family is excited to see what he’s working on. CEO Lapsa said Stoke’s rockets are designed to be reused 100 times with quick turnarounds, vastly reducing the cost of access to space. “You wouldn’t throw a 737 away at the end of every flight,” he said. “It’s silly to do the same for a rocket.” COO Hennig said the ability of Stoke’s rocket to bring things down from orbit as well as bring things up adds more commercial possibilities. That could facilitate asteroid mining, space junk cleanup and orbital manufacturing — where microgravity has been touted as an advantage for making some protein-based drugs, optical fibers and even artificial eye retinas. Hennig said Stoke has also talked to the government about potentially using the rocket to deliver military cargo at high speed across the globe, though that would presumably strand the second stage far away and make it not reusable. Beyond these far-out concepts, everyone in this new space industry seems to share a wilder vision, one straight from the rhetoric of Musk and Bezos: humans populating space and other planets in our solar system. For outsiders, that’s just science fiction. While envisioning scientific bases on Mars makes sense — like the bases established in Antarctica — surely no one would want to live there full time, even if it were possible. Yet Musk, with more sway than ever after aggressively backing Donald Trump in the presidential election, has successfully sold a vision of “cities on Mars.” And people in the space industry want to believe. “I absolutely think we will have colonies and cities on Mars or the moon,” says Lapsa, politely disagreeing with a skeptical journalist. “Whether that’s in 15 years or 150 years, I don’t know, but I think we will have them.” The first small step for man, among the many steps to that far-off future, he sees as Stoke’s idea of making access to space routine. “I’m very excited about all of those visions,” Lapsa said. “But I think that if any of them are going to come true, you really need a healthy, vibrant, competitive economy in space.” While Stoke still has many technical challenges ahead to reach even its initial launch, he believes rapid reusability is within grasp. Standing on the shoulders of the Apollo generation and using advances in computing and materials, Lapsa said, “We can do things with a cost structure and a timeline that was never possible before.” ©2024 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.NFL Week 17 TV Schedule, Streams, Start Times, Channels

Fare-free travel on Fridays will not be in place for this week's launch of the new public transport ticket system, while the government has not said how much money remains stranded on old MyWay cards. Black Friday Sale Subscribe Now! Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox Interactive Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue Free travel on Fridays was an ACT Labor election commitment aimed at increasing patronage and encouraging more people to work in town centre offices. Labor announced it would start after the introduction of the new MyWay+ system, which goes live on Wednesday. Under the pledge, free travel would run from 5.30am on Fridays for buses and last until 11pm. Free trams would be from 6am to 1am. An ACT government spokesperson said the commitment to Fare Free Fridays remained firm but "the date for commencement has yet to be announced". The new MyWay+ ticket system commences on Wednesday, a long-awaited major upgrade to the ticketing system underpinning the city's bus and tram networks. However, as the start date loomed, there has been confusion among some patrons about aspects of the system and ticket suppliers have complained about not having enough stock to sell to customers. "I'm totally confused," Clem Jones said after emerging from the Transport Canberra shop at the bus interchange in Civic. "I just want to know how I use this on a bus," he said, pointing at the app he'd downloaded to his phone. His wife Diane said she'd been told by a lady on the helpline: "It can be difficult". Both are in their 70s so they won't have to pay anyway, but they will still need a MyWay+ account to get the pensioner discount. The ACT government has produced a special brochure for ACT seniors aged 70 and over which people were picking up at the Transport Canberra shop. On Monday, the official there was patiently and politely answering questions. Some potential passengers emerged from the shop enlightened and some didn't. "What I want to know is how do I set up my son's MyWay+ card when he doesn't have an email address or a credit card," John Chan said. "I was told that he needs to create his own account and use my email and credit card details, so I can do the automatic top-up." His son is aged 12. Mr Chan was told that his son would have to re-prove at the end of the year that he was sill young enough to be eligible for a concession. "My oldest son never had to revalidate," Mr Chan said. The MyWay+ system. Picture by Elesa Kurtz The ACT government said later: "You can get your child a physical MyWay+ card (student concession) or they can set your child/ren up with the app. MyWay+ travel cards can also be ordered through your MyWay+ account. "In early 2025 you will also be able to link multiple accounts for a primary account holder (e.g. parent or carer) to manage secondary accounts." As passengers attempted to find out how the new system will work, one shop near the bus interchange had run out of new cards to sell on Saturday. "I don't know why they don't give us more cards," the shopkeeper said. "They'll only give us 200 at a time." He said he'd had his 200 on Friday and they had gone by noon the next day. It would take three to five business days to get more, he said. The Canberra Times , tried to clear up some of the uncertainty by sending questions from readers to Transport Canberra. Some of those questions were: "Where is the successor to NXT - is there real-time tracking of buses on the new app. If so, which one?" Transport Canberra responded: "Real-time information will be displayed on board the screens on buses and at public information displays on buses. It will also be switched on for the new MyWay+ app in time for launch." A second question was: "How much money is left unclaimed on the old system?" The ACT government didn't respond to this question. On top of that, some readers wanted to know when free travel on Fridays would start. Share Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email Copy Steve Evans Reporter Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues." Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues." More from Canberra 'All part of the fun': how to choose a portrait for the people 45m ago No comment s Sizzling in the capital: where to swim this summer 45m ago No comment s Card shortages, uncertainty ahead of MyWay+ launch 45m ago Child support system becoming a new tool for abusive ex-partners 45m ago No comment s Proposed alcohol ad changes like throwing kerosene on a public health fire 45m ago No comment s Yes, a small number die from vaccines. We can't let it play into anti-vax hands 45m ago Newsletters & Alerts View all DAILY Your morning news Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. Loading... WEEKDAYS The lunch break Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. Loading... 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Congress stages ‘Dr B R Ambedkar Samman Morcha’ in Maharashtra, slams BJPDENVER (AP) — Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. JonBenet Ramsey, who competed in beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet competing in pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States. The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing. Police said they released it a little earlier due to the increased attention on the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.” In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news coverage and documentaries about the killing of JonBenet, who would have been 34 this year, as a way to generate possible new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case but needs to be careful about what it shares about the investigation to protect a possible future prosecution. “What I can tell you though, is we have thoroughly investigated multiple people as suspects throughout the years and we continue to be open-minded about what occurred as we investigate the tips that come into detectives," he said. The Netflix documentary focuses on the mistakes made by police and the “media circus” surrounding the case. JonBenet was bludgeoned and strangled. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted. Police were widely criticized for mishandling the early investigation into her death amid speculation that her family was responsible. However, a prosecutor cleared her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and brother Burke in 2008 based on new DNA evidence from JonBenet's clothing that pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying. The announcement by former district attorney Mary Lacy came two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. Lacy called the Ramseys “victims of this crime.” John Ramsey has continued to speak out for the case to be solved. In 2022, he supported an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case. In the Netflix documentary, he said he has been advocating for several items that have not been prepared for DNA testing to be tested and for other items to be retested. He said the results should be put through a genealogy database. In recent years, investigators have identified suspects in unsolved cases by comparing DNA profiles from crime scenes and to DNA testing results shared online by people researching their family trees. In 2021, police said in their annual update that DNA hadn’t been ruled out to help solve the case, and in 2022 noted that some evidence could be “consumed” if DNA testing is done on it. Last year, police said they convened a panel of outside experts to review the investigation to give recommendations and determine if updated technologies or forensic testing might produce new leads. In the latest update, Redfearn said that review had ended but that police continue to work through and evaluate a “lengthy list of recommendations” from the panel. Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report from Helena, Montana.

Dimitri Otis Some readers familiar with my articles may know that I invest based on my Five Factor Model , which screens companies for: Importance Insider Management Strong Revenue Growth High Gross Margins Acceptable Valuation Passing all five factors Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Alexis Mac Allister and substitute Cody Gakpo got the goals as Liverpool beat Champions League holders Real Madrid 2-0 at Anfield to make it five wins from as many games in the league phase for Arne Slot’s men. The Reds took the lead when Mac Allister played a one-two with Conor Bradley and slotted past Thibaut Courtois seven minutes into the second half. Real had the chance to equalise with a penalty just past the hour, but Kylian Mbappe saw his strike saved by Caoimhin Kelleher. There was then an unsuccessful spot-kick from the hosts as Mohamed Salah missed from 12 yards, before Gakpo popped up with a 76th-minute header from Andy Robertson’s cross as the Merseysiders recorded a first win over Real in 15 years and gained some revenge for their defeats in the 2018 and 2022 finals. While Liverpool top the table, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real are down in 24th place – the final play-offs berth – with just six points from their five matches. Aston Villa are outside the top eight on goal difference after a 0-0 draw with Juventus in which Morgan Rogers had a stoppage-time finish for the hosts ruled out for a foul, with Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez having earlier made a fantastic save to deny Francisco Conceicao. Celtic, lying 20th, drew 1-1 at home with Club Brugge thanks to a curling Daizen Maeda strike that cancelled out a remarkable own goal by Cameron Carter-Vickers, who passed back without looking to send the ball into the net. Borussia Dortmund moved into the top eight with 3-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb, where Jamie Gittens, Ramy Bensebaini and Serhou Guirassy got on the scoresheet. Monaco dropped to eighth after suffering their first loss of the league phase, 3-2 at home to Benfica. Despite having Wilfried Singo sent off just prior to the hour mark, the French side took the lead for a second time via Soungoutou Magassa in the 67th minute, only for late goals from Arthur Cabral and Zeki Amdouni to give Benfica all three points. Lille, in 12th, have the same amount of points as Monaco and Villa thanks to a 2-1 win at Bologna, with Ngal’Ayel Mukau notching a brace. PSV Eindhoven, now 18th, produced a dramatic late turnaround to beat 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 at home. The visitors led 2-0 through Danylo Sikan and Oleksandr Zubkov before having Pedrinho sent off in the 69th minute, and PSV then hit back with three goals in the closing stages, Malik Tilman scoring in the 87th and 90th and Ricardo Pepi then notching the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Red Star Belgrade registered their first win of the league phase by thrashing Stuttgart 5-1, as did Sturm Graz, beating Girona 1-0.

Texas A&M signed the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class three years ago believing it had built a potential national title contender. Plenty of players from that heralded 2022 class could indeed be participating in the first 12-team College Football Playoff this month. They just won’t be doing it for the Aggies, who no longer have nearly half their 2022 signees. The list of 2022 recruits now with playoff contenders elsewhere includes Mississippi defensive lineman Walter Nolen, Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart, Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton, SMU offensive tackle PJ Williams and injured Boise State receiver Chris Marshall. Texas A&M has done all right without them, going 8-4 as transfers filled about half the starting roles. Texas A&M represents perhaps the clearest example of how recruiting and roster construction have changed in the era of loosened transfer restrictions. Coaches must assemble high school classes without always knowing which of their own players are transferring and what players from other schools could be available through the portal. “It used to be you lost 20 seniors, you signed 20 incoming freshmen,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “You just had your numbers right. Now you might lose 20 seniors, but you might lose 20 underclassmen. You just don’t know.” Coaches emphasize that high school recruiting remains critical, but recent results suggest it isn’t as vital as before. The last two College Football Playoff runners-up – TCU in 2022 and Washington in 2023 – didn’t sign a single top-15 class in any of the four years leading up their postseason runs, according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports. This year’s contenders have shown there’s more than one way to build a championship-caliber roster. About half of No. 1 Oregon’s usual starters began their college careers elsewhere. No. 5 Georgia, which annually signs one of the nation’s top high school classes, has only a few transfers making major contributions. Colorado’s rise under Deion Sanders exemplifies how a team can win without elite high school recruiting. None of Colorado’s last four classes have ranked higher than 30th in the 247Sports Composite. Three ranked 47th or lower. “If anybody ever did the homework and the statistics of these young men – people have a class that they say is the No. 1 class in the nation – then five of those guys play, or four of those guys play, then the rest go through the spring and then they jump in the portal,” Sanders said. “Don’t give me the number of where you rank (in recruiting standings), because it’s like an NFL team," he added. "You always say who won the draft, then the team gets killed all year (and) you don’t say nothing else about it. Who won the draft last year in the NFL? Nobody cares right now, right?” Wisconsin's Christian Alliegro tries to stop Oregon's Evan Stewart, right, during the first half of a Nov. 16 game in Madison, Wis. Star quarterback Shedeur Sanders followed his father from Jackson State to Colorado in 2023, and Heisman Trophy front-runner Travis Hunter accompanied them. According to Colorado, this year’s Buffaloes team has 50 transfer newcomers, trailing only North Texas’ 54 among Bowl Subdivision programs. Relying on transfers comes with caveats. Consider Florida State's rise and fall. Florida State posted an unbeaten regular-season record last year with transfers playing leading roles. When those transfers departed and Florida State's portal additions this year didn't work out, the Seminoles went 2-10. “There has to be some type of balance between the transfer portal and high school recruiting,” said Andrew Ivins, the director of scouting for 247Sports. “I compare it to the NFL. The players from the transfer portal are your free agents and high school recruiting is your NFL draft picks.” A look at the composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports for the 2020-22 classes shows at least 40 of the top 100 prospects each of those years ended up leaving their original school. Coaches must decide which positions they’re better off building with high school prospects and which spots might be easier to fill through the portal. “The ones that have a ton of learning to do - tight end, quarterback, interior offensive line, inside linebacker, safety, where they are the communicators - they are the guys that are processing a lot of information,” Florida’s Billy Napier said. “Those are the ones in a perfect world you have around for a while. “It’s easier to play defensive line, edge, corner, receiver, running back, tackle, specialists. Those are a little bit more plug-and-play I’d say, in my opinion," Napier said. "Either way, it’s not necessarily about that. It’s just about we need a certain number at each spot, and we do the best we can to fill those roles.” Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, right, congratulates place kicker Cristiano Palazzo after he kicked an extra point during the second half of Friday's game against Oklahoma Stat in Boulder, Colo. Power Four programs aren’t the only ones facing a balancing act between recruiting high schools and mining the transfer portal. Group of Five schools encounter similar challenges. “We’re recruiting every position and bringing in a high school class,” Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton said. “That’s not going to be maybe 24 scholarship guys like it used to be. It might be more like 16. It’s not four d-linemen necessarily, right? It might be three. It might not be three receivers. It might be two. And it might not be five offensive linemen. It’s two to three.” The extra hurdle Group of Five schools face is the possibility their top performers might leave for a power-conference program with more lucrative name, image and likeness financial opportunities. They sometimes don’t know which players they’ll lose. “We know who they’re trying to steal,” Miami (Ohio) coach Chuck Martin quipped. “We just don’t know who they’re going to steal.” The obstacles facing coaches are only getting steeper as FBS teams prepare for a 105-man roster limit as part of the fallout from a pending $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement. While having 105 players on scholarship seems like an upgrade from the current 85-man scholarship limit, many rosters have about 125 players once walk-ons are included. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said last week his program would probably end up with about 30-50 players in the portal due to the new roster restrictions. All the added dimensions to roster construction in the college game have drawn parallels to the NFL, but Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck believes those comparisons are misleading. “When people talk about college football right now, they’re saying, ‘Oh, we have an NFL model,’ or it’s kind of moving toward the NFL,” Fleck said. “First of all, it’s nothing like the NFL. There’s a collective bargaining agreement (in the NFL). There’s a true salary cap for everybody. It’s designed for all 32 fan bases to win the Super Bowl maybe once every 32 years – and I know other people are winning that a lot more than others – but that’s how it’s designed. In college football, it’s not that way.” There does seem to be a bit more competitive balance than before. The emergence of TCU and Washington the last couple of postseasons indicates this new era of college football has produced more unpredictability. Yet it’s also created many more challenges as coaches try to figure out how to put together their rosters. “It’s difficult because we’re just kind of inventing it on the fly, right?” Diaz said. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, foreground right, dives toward the end zone to score past San Francisco 49ers defensive end Robert Beal Jr. (51) and linebacker Dee Winters during the second half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus) Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green goes up for a dunk during the second half of an Emirates NBA cup basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) South Carolina guard Maddy McDaniel (1) drives to the basket against UCLA forward Janiah Barker (0) and center Lauren Betts (51) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer) Mari Fukada of Japan falls as she competes in the women's Snowboard Big Air qualifying round during the FIS Snowboard & Freeski World Cup 2024 at the Shougang Park in Beijing, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) LSU punter Peyton Todd (38) kneels in prayer before an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. LSU won 37-17. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) South Africa's captain Temba Bavuma misses a catch during the fourth day of the first Test cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at Kingsmead stadium in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, left, is hit by Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, center, as Eagles wide receiver Parris Campbell (80) looks on during a touchdown run by Barkley in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough) Los Angeles Kings left wing Warren Foegele, left, trips San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, center, during the third period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) Olympiacos' Francisco Ortega, right, challenges for the ball with FCSB's David Miculescu during the Europa League league phase soccer match between FCSB and Olympiacos at the National Arena stadium, in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Brazil's Botafogo soccer fans react during the Copa Libertadores title match against Atletico Mineiro in Argentina, during a watch party at Nilton Santos Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado) Seattle Kraken fans react after a goal by center Matty Beniers against the San Jose Sharks was disallowed due to goaltender interference during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Seattle. The Sharks won 4-2. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27), center, fight for the puck with Boston Bruins defensemen Parker Wotherspoon (29), left, and Brandon Carlo (25), right during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) Jiyai Shin of Korea watches her shot on the 10th hole during the final round of the Australian Open golf championship at the Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake) Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland competes in the women's Freeski Big Air qualifying round during the FIS Snowboard & Freeski World Cup 2024 at the Shougang Park in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Lara Gut-Behrami, of Switzerland, competes during a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin cools off during first period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) Brazil's Amanda Gutierres, second right, is congratulated by teammate Yasmin, right, after scoring her team's first goal during a soccer international between Brazil and Australia in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher) Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers (89) tries to leap over Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Joshua Williams (2) during the first half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga) Luiz Henrique of Brazil's Botafogo, right. is fouled by goalkeeper Everson of Brazil's Atletico Mineiro inside the penalty area during a Copa Libertadores final soccer match at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) England's Alessia Russo, left, and United States' Naomi Girma challenge for the ball during the International friendly women soccer match between England and United States at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Gold medalists Team Netherlands competes in the Team Sprint Women race of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Beijing 2024 held at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones (33) reaches for an incomplete pass ahead of Arizona Cardinals linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. (2) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) Melanie Meillard, center, of Switzerland, competes during the second run in a women's World Cup slalom skiing race, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) Get local news delivered to your inbox!DENVER (AP) — Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $14.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! DENVER (AP) — Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? DENVER (AP) — Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. JonBenet Ramsey, who competed in beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet competing in pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States. The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing. Police said they released it a little earlier due to the increased attention on the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.” In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news coverage and documentaries about the killing of JonBenet, who would have been 34 this year, as a way to generate possible new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case but needs to be careful about what it shares about the investigation to protect a possible future prosecution. “What I can tell you though, is we have thoroughly investigated multiple people as suspects throughout the years and we continue to be open-minded about what occurred as we investigate the tips that come into detectives,” he said. The Netflix documentary focuses on the mistakes made by police and the “media circus” surrounding the case. JonBenet was bludgeoned and strangled. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted. Police were widely criticized for mishandling the early investigation into her death amid speculation that her family was responsible. However, a prosecutor cleared her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and brother Burke in 2008 based on new DNA evidence from JonBenet’s clothing that pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying. The announcement by former district attorney Mary Lacy came two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. Lacy called the Ramseys “victims of this crime.” John Ramsey has continued to speak out for the case to be solved. In 2022, he supported an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case. In the Netflix documentary, he said he has been advocating for several items that have not been prepared for DNA testing to be tested and for other items to be retested. He said the results should be put through a genealogy database. In recent years, investigators have identified suspects in unsolved cases by comparing DNA profiles from crime scenes and to DNA testing results shared online by people researching their family trees. In 2021, police said in their annual update that DNA hadn’t been ruled out to help solve the case, and in 2022 noted that some evidence could be “consumed” if DNA testing is done on it. Last year, police said they convened a panel of outside experts to review the investigation to give recommendations and determine if updated technologies or forensic testing might produce new leads. In the latest update, Redfearn said that review had ended but that police continue to work through and evaluate a “lengthy list of recommendations” from the panel. ____ Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report from Helena, Montana. Advertisement AdvertisementThe Denver Nuggets have been enjoying one of the greatest individual seasons from a player that the league has ever seen, as their three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić looks to be the frontrunner to win the award for a fourth time this season. While Jokić has been playing some of the best basketball of his career, it hasn’t led to as many wins as Denver would have hoped for. The Nuggets’ record sits at 12-10 as they hold the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. Jokić has done everything possible to keep his team afloat, recently pouring in a career-high 56 points to go along with 16 rebounds and eight assists Saturday night. The only issue is that his historic outing came in a 122-113 defeat against the Washington Wizards, the worst team in the Association. Since Denver’s run to the 2023 NBA championship which saw Jokić win his first Finals MVP award, the supporting pieces around their dominant center have been dwindling. Since the departure of impactful role players like Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jeff Green and Reggie Jackson post-2023, the Nuggets’ improvement has been contingent on the development of their young prospect core. Outside of their recent draft picks Christian Braun and Peyton Watson, Denver’s bench has struggled. To remedy this situation, the Nuggets’ general manager Calvin Booth could be inclined to inquire about a game-wrecking guard from the Memphis Grizzlies. Marcus Smart’s time with the Memphis Grizzlies has been injury-riddled for the most part, but he has still shown the ability necessary to potentially contribute to a winning organization. The winner of the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year award and an important piece to the Boston Celtics’ run to the NBA Finals during that same season, Smart’s reputation has preceded him as one of the best defensive guards the league has to offer when healthy. The three-time All-Defensive Team member has played sparingly this season, but his defensive numbers are comparable to his most productive seasons as a member of the Celtics. Smart is averaging 9.6 points and 4.1 assists on a 47.1% effective field goal percentage, but his 108 defensive rating per 100 possessions and 0.9 defensive box plus-minus figures in 15 appearances are still impeccable. Denver could acquire Smart to hopefully fill in the shoes of Brown or Caldwell-Pope by either shipping out prospects such as Julian Strawther and Zeke Nnaji or attaching draft capital to either player. More NBA: Celtics rank number two on the NBA Week 8 Power Rankings at the quarter-season mark

How to watch Los Angeles Clippers vs. Portland Trail Blazers: Live stream, TV channel, start time for Tuesday's NBA gameCaitlin Clark has been named the AP Female Athlete of the Year after raising the profile of women’s basketball to unprecedented levels in both college and the WNBA. She led Iowa to the national championship game, was the top pick in the WNBA draft and captured rookie of the year honors in the league. Fans packed sold-out arenas and millions of television viewers followed her journey on and off the court. Clark’s exploits also put other women’s sports leagues in the spotlight. A group of 74 sports journalists from AP and its members voted on the award. Other athletes who received votes included Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and boxer Imane Khelif. Clark’s only the fourth women’s basketball player to win the award since it was first given in 1931.

EllisDon and Impulse Partners Announce 2024 ConTech Accelerator WinnersFox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Ohio State Buckeyes men’s soccer defender Nathan Demian was accidentally wounded in an off-campus shooting after the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament semifinals, the school said in a statement on Monday. Demian was wounded in a shooting at around 2 a.m. ET. Columbus police said two vehicles were chasing each other and firing guns at each other when Demian was struck, according to the Columbus Dispatch . CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Ohio State defender Nathan Demian takes the field before the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal match against Wake Forest, Dec. 7, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Demian was expected to survive. No suspects were immediately identified. The school said Demian was "an innocent bystander" and not involved in the altercation. "The soccer program is thankful for the incredible university support and medical care available to Nathan and his family during this difficult time," the school said in a statement. "Nathan’s family is with him and the team is extremely close. The family has asked that everyone keep Nathan in their prayers. The department will do all it can to support Nathan, his family and the men’s soccer program in every way possible." "Because of the police investigation underway, the department will not be able to discuss the incident further." PHIL MICKELSON APPLAUDS DANIEL PENNY JURY FOR ACQUITTAL: 'A LITTLE COMMON SENSE' Demian, of Canada, will be sidelined for the NCAA College Cup semifinals against Marshall. The shooting occurred after the team defeated Wake Forest in the Elite Eight. Ohio State defender Nathan Demian is shown during the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal match, Dec. 7, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) "We're going to miss him on the field. But he's such a huge personality," Ohio State head coach Brian Maisonneuve told reporters Monday. "He really gets everybody going in practice and in games. He has got a great voice. He's a character in the best way possible. And, like I said, his play speaks for itself. He's a competitor, and it's going to be tough not to have him out there." Demian is a redshirt junior from Vancouver . He was named to the Academic All-Big Ten Conference in 2022 and 2023 and was named to the Wolstein Classic All-Tournament Team in 2022. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He missed his entire junior year because of an injury. Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter . Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.KFC S'pore bringing back parmesan truffle chicken, launching caramel mochi rings more on Nov. 27

Matt Gaetz says he won’t return to Congress next year after withdrawing name for attorney generalNone