646 jili
646 jili
646 jili
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passes away at 92
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for inciting violence at California political rallies in 2017. Robert Paul Rundo, 34, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said. “Hate and violence are antithetical to American values and tear at our community. It is therefore critical that we protect the civil and constitutional rights of our community against those who promote divisiveness," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. Rundo's attorney didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Prosecutors say Rundo co-founded the Rise Above Movement, which they describe as “a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.” He and two others were accused of planning and engaging in violence at gatherings in Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino in 2017. Rundo was arrested in 2018 for inciting violence at California protests and at a deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia . A federal court dismissed the charges in 2019, but they were reinstated by a federal appeals court in 2021. Rundo had left the United States after the charges were dismissed and was extradited last year from Romania when they were reinstated. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Sen. Booker 'frustrated' by lack of transparency about drones, says it's causing 'misinformation to spread'Oregon State senior duo accept invitation to play in East-West Shrine Game.
Resilience in Focus: How Australian Boards Are Preparing for CPS 230
Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler each know what it's like to have a decent PGA Tour season. Getty Images Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re starting to think this Scottie Scheffler might have a real future in the game. To the news! First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy. (Ed. note: Some people have missed the last couple emails, this one should come through Monday evening, hang tight!) GOLF STUFF I LIKE Appreciating the good stuff. It’s natural to look forward. And, I think increasingly, cultural forces have us moving on to the next thing even faster than ever. That’s doubly true for athletes, who are likely inspired by some end goal (winning the championship, say) but in order to get there must lose themselves in the process. An athlete’s comfort zone is having something left to prove, some skill yet to master, some distance to the mountaintop left to climb. Actually reaching the summit? That can be tough to process, in its own way. That brings us to Scottie Scheffler , who won again this weekend, this time at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, his ninth worldwide victory this season. He redirected questions about what the victory meant , as he’s used to doing by now, insisting that he plays not for money nor legacy but because he enjoys the competition. His is an aspirational outlook; if you’re in it purely for the joy of winning and the love of competing, you can soak up your victories while also looking ahead to the next chance to contend. Bravo, Scottie. The crossroads of accomplishment, satisfaction and winning also brings us to Bob MacIntyre . The 28-year-old Scotsman ended up with a fairy-tale season, but it didn’t begin that way. This was his first full year playing the PGA Tour and it took time to adjust; he initially based himself out of Orlando, Fla. but soon found that untethering and unsatisfying. After several months he moved home to Oban to re-center himself. It was right around that time that MacIntyre, missing home, brought home to him. He tapped in his father Dougie as a fill-in caddie for the RBC Canadian Open and, sure enough, won the whole damn thing. In the moments after the win I was struck by MacIntyre’s instincts. While CBS interviewer Amanda Balionis understandably assumed he’d then tap in for the following week’s Memorial Tournament, a big-money Tour event for which he was suddenly qualified, MacIntyre shook his head. He was headed home with his girlfriend and his family to celebrate a dream come true. The moment when Dougie MacIntyre starts saying “I’m a grass cutter” and then breaks down 🥹 pic.twitter.com/GHH1zDhjqG Things only got more outrageous for the popular Scot when he teed it up the next month at his home open, the Genesis Scottish, held at the Renaissance Club. MacIntyre fought off a loaded leaderboard that included Rory McIlroy and eventually outdueled Adam Scott , pouring in a big-time birdie putt at No. 18 to finish off a tournament win he’d dreamt of as long as he could dream. The Hero can serve as something of a bookend to the year and is often a good time to ask players to reflect. Had MacIntyre gotten the opportunity to appreciate what he’d done? “I’ve not done that yet and I don’t think I’ll be able to do that until later on in my life, to be honest with you,” MacIntyre said after a bogey-free opening round. “That’s just — it’s work. I try to go week to week, just try and improve every day, every week.” Later on in his career, he said, he’d have an easier time. As a competitor, that makes complete sense. But as a fan of great stories I wanted a moment of real-time reflection for MacIntyre, for his family and friends. Wins this special just don’t come along often enough to let ’em pass by. I was relieved, then, to see him post a picture to social media on Monday following a seventh-place finish in the Bahamas. He’s sitting on a beach, wearing a grin and holding a beer, sun setting into the horizon behind him. Life’s good, Bob. Good on ya for taking a minute to stop and soak it in. Celebrating the good stuff — that’s golf stuff I like. A post shared by @robertmacintyre WINNERS Who won the week? Another good week to remember that competitive golf truly never stops. Scottie Scheffler won for the ninth time in 2024 — a total that now includes seven official PGA Tour wins plus Olympic Gold and the tiger trophy handed over by Scheffler’s childhood idol, tournament host Tiger Woods , on Sunday afternoon. Scheffler gapped the field by six shots thanks to a bogey-free final-round 63, low score of the day by four. What a fitting finish to a dominant year. Joaquin Niemann won the Saudi International, the final Asian Tour event of the season as well as the final International Series event. The win came with subtext: Niemann played two International Series events all season but finished third and then won, which jumped him to the top of the season-long standings. That meant he got the LIV spot that had been promised to the series winner but, because Niemann is already on LIV, nobody will earn promotion. Niemann also jumped back inside the top 100 in the world, though it’s clear he’s playing at a higher level than his No. 74 ranking suggests. Johannes Veerman won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, known as “Africa’s major,” which attracted a strong field from the DP World and PGA Tours. The American is off to a hot start in the 2025 DP World Tour season, which continues this week. And Denmark’s Søren Kjeldsen won the final stage of PGA Tour Champions qualifying by eight shots; he’ll be joined on the senior circuit by Freddie Jacobson, Mark Walker, Felipe Aguilar and Brendan Jones after they made it through at TPC Scottsdale on Friday. If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox! NOT-WINNERS A few golfers who didn’t win but still kinda won. Tom Kim finished second to Scheffler, another chapter in the big bro-little bro rivalry the two have developed at home in Dallas and on Tour. While this wasn’t as close as a playoff showdown at the Travelers nor as fiesty as their Presidents Cup duel, it was a big step in the right direction for Kim, who just missed out on top-50 PGA Tour status at the end of the season but could be in fine form heading to 2025. Justin Thomas showed out in his first tournament as a father; he had the 54-hole lead before Scheffler steamrolled the field but impressed with a new weapon — a 46-inch driver — in his bag. Thomas easily could have been on the Presidents Cup team and I think he’ll continue to show people why come the new year, where he surely already has Bethpage Black on the mind. Akshay Bhatia also boasted a new driver this week, this one a Callaway prototype that he says helps counteract his extreme out-to-in swing path. I’m, I would say, a unicorn person to fit because my club path is anywhere from four to nine right,” Bhatia said. “There’s just not many guys that swing a driver like I do. Just trying to find something that we can keep the spin down but it doesn’t go left. It’s just a hard balance.” So far, so good: Solo fourth at the Bahamas. And Keegan Bradley quietly finished fifth at the Hero, showing the sort of form that will feed into one of 2025’s most guaranteed storylines: is there any way the U.S. Ryder Cup captain can play his way onto the team? SHORT HITTERS Major contenders you forgot. We discussed this on Monday afternoon’s Drop Zone recording (subscribe on Spotify or Apple ); when that publishes first thing Tuesday I’ll post it here. But as the year comes to a close I thought it would be fun to look back and see who I’d already forgotten had contended at the four men’s majors. Here’s one from each: -The Masters leaderboard was chock-full of talent heading to Sunday’s final round. Scheffler led by one over Collin Morikawa , who was one stroke ahead of Max Homa , who was one stroke ahead of Ludvig Aberg , who was one stroke ahead of Bryson DeChambeau , who was one stroke ahead of Xander Schauffele . But tied with Schauffele in T6? That would be Cameron Davis , who like me lives in Washington but unlike me is a Tour winner, amateur hypnosis enthusiast and one-time Masters contender. Still, he faded Sunday to T12 as Scheffler took the air out of the tournament on the back nine. -You may remember two specific pairings from the PGA Championship: DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland were the chase pack, storming ’round Valhalla on Sunday and making their way to the 18th tee each six under par for the day. DeChambeau would go on to birdie 18 and set the clubhouse lead, which Schauffele and Morikawa were chasing from the final pairing. Morikawa couldn’t buy a birdie while Schauffele eventually won the whole thing, but lost in that shuffle was the fact that there was another twosome in between those groups. Shane Lowry shot one under par on Sunday to finish T6, while Sahith Theegala needed two late birdies just to salve a 73 that left him T12. -At the U.S. Open, you’ll remember DeChambeau leading by three shots entering the final round over Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and... Matthew Pavon ! The Frenchman made some Sunday bogeys but did well to hang in on a brutally tough golf course in pressure-packed conditions. He played the final six holes in two under par (DeChambeau played the same stretch in one over, and McIlroy in three over) to finish solo fifth. -And the Open Championship was loaded with fascinating contenders, not least of which was Dan Brown . The unheralded Englishman, who was playing in his first-ever major, was the first-round leader and held the lead through much of Saturday, at which point he double-bogeyed 18. His Sunday 74 kept him out of contention but in the house at an extremely impressive T10. ONE DUMB GRAPHIC Wizards, take note. scottie scheffler has as many wins since feb 1 as the washington wizards basketball team pic.twitter.com/yWfFomKE2F ONE SWING THOUGHT From Scottie Scheffler. No top pro takes a swing change lightly, least of all the detail-oriented Scheffler, who is finishing off a historically good 2024 season. Insert change: how ’bout a new putter grip? Scheffler admitted after Thursday’s opening round that he and short-game coach Phil Kenyon had deferred the potential change until the offseason and that this seemed like the right moment to test it out. “Figured this is a good week to try stuff just because you can practice and practice and do all the stuff at home, but there’s just something different about being in competition,” Scheffler said. “I really enjoyed the way it felt, I felt like I’m seeing some improvements in my stroke.” The results speak for themselves: Scheffler is dangerous every week and arguably even more dangerous when he’s just testing stuff out. ONE BIG QUESTION Should players get paid to play the Ryder Cup? I mean, yeah, probably. This topic swirled in the Bahamas this week again, with Tiger Woods echoing history (this was a topic of discussion in 1999, he said, and he thinks players should each get a large chunk of change to donate to charity) and Patrick Cantlay staying out of the fray (“I think that’s a media narrative and I’m not going to fall into that,” he said of talk the Americans were demanding pay) and Scheffler, as usual, making plenty of sense. “I think every one of our players would pay to play in the Ryder Cup if that’s what was asked of us,” he said, referencing a McIlroy line about the event’s meaning. “I think it’s a little bit silly for a tournament that makes hundreds of millions of dollars to ask for the players to pay as well, but I think we all would. I definitely would.” That particular resolution seems unlikely, though massive appearance fees also wouldn’t sit particularly well with a golfing public increasingly exhausted by money talk. Scheffler’s exhausted by money talk, too — he insisted, again, that he’s overpaid. But the question then becomes: if the players shouldn’t get paid from Ryder Cup profits, who should? ONE THING TO WATCH How hot will LIV’s hot stove get? Last week saw renewed rumors of Tony Finau to LIV ultimately shot down by Finau himself in an interview with Golfweek ; his much-scrutinized Hero WD was due to a procedure on his knee. So now what? Now we wait as see, I guess, but it feels unlikely that any massive Jon Rahm -style transaction would take place this winter. As a result, LIV’s biggest upcoming may well be LIV CEO Greg Norman himself, who confirmed over the weekend that, while he’ll stay with LIV in some capacity it won’t be in his current position. Anyway, I usually slide a video in here, so this is a sideways shift: Here’s the Ryder Cup doc I mentioned last week. It’s so beautifully shot it’s worth watching for vibes alone. Una Famiglia : NEWS FROM SEATTLE Monday Finish HQ. I have moved into an office located above a bakery. I have an extreme sweet tooth. This is proving to be something of a personal challenge. Will keep you posted. We’ll see you next week. Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox! Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com . Latest In News Golf.com Editor Dylan Dethier is a senior writer for GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com. The Williamstown, Mass. native joined GOLF in 2017 after two years scuffling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams College, where he majored in English, and he’s the author of 18 in America , which details the year he spent as an 18-year-old living from his car and playing a round of golf in every state.
Southern African countries build $45M military depot in Botswana
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The sight was a common one for Andrew Kolpacki. For many a Sunday, he would watch NFL games on TV and see quarterbacks putting their hands on their helmets, desperately trying to hear the play call from the sideline or booth as tens of thousands of fans screamed at the tops of their lungs. When the NCAA's playing rules oversight committee this past spring approved the use of coach-to-player helmet communications in games for the 2024 season, Kolpacki, Michigan State's head football equipment manager, knew the Spartans' QBs and linebackers were going to have a problem. "There had to be some sort of solution," he said. As it turns out, there was. And it was right across the street. Kolpacki reached out to Tamara Reid Bush, a mechanical engineering professor who not only heads the school's Biomechanical Design Research Laboratory but also is a football season ticket-holder. Kolpacki "showed me some photos and said that other teams had just put duct tape inside the (earhole), and he asked me, 'Do you think we can do anything better than duct tape,?" Bush said. "And I said, 'Oh, absolutely.'" Bush and Rylie DuBois, a sophomore biosystems engineering major and undergraduate research assistant at the lab, set out to produce earhole inserts made from polylactic acid, a bio-based plastic, using a 3D printer. Part of the challenge was accounting for the earhole sizes and shapes that vary depending on helmet style. Once the season got underway with a Friday night home game against Florida Atlantic on Aug. 30, the helmets of starting quarterback Aidan Chiles and linebacker Jordan Turner were outfitted with the inserts, which helped mitigate crowd noise. DuBois attended the game, sitting in the student section. "I felt such a strong sense of accomplishment and pride," DuBois said. "And I told all my friends around me about how I designed what they were wearing on the field." All told, Bush and DuBois have produced around 180 sets of the inserts, a number that grew in part due to the variety of helmet designs and colors that are available to be worn by Spartan players any given Saturday. Plus, the engineering folks have been fine-tuning their design throughout the season. Dozens of Bowl Subdivision programs are doing something similar. In many cases, they're getting 3D-printed earhole covers from XO Armor Technologies, which provides on-site, on-demand 3D printing of athletic wearables. The Auburn, Alabama-based company has donated its version of the earhole covers to the equipment managers of programs ranging from Georgia and Clemson to Boise State and Arizona State in the hope the schools would consider doing business with XO Armor in the future, said Jeff Klosterman, vice president of business development. XO Armor first was approached by the Houston Texans at the end of last season about creating something to assist quarterback C.J. Stroud in better hearing play calls delivered to his helmet during road games. XO Armor worked on a solution and had completed one when it received another inquiry: Ohio State, which had heard Michigan State was moving forward with helmet inserts, wondered if XO Armor had anything in the works. "We kind of just did this as a one-off favor to the Texans and honestly didn't forecast it becoming our viral moment in college football," Klosterman said. "We've now got about 60 teams across college football and the NFL wearing our sound-deadening earhole covers every weekend." The rules state that only one player for each team is permitted to be in communication with coaches while on the field. For the Spartans, it's typically Chiles on offense and Turner on defense. Turner prefers to have an insert in both earholes, but Chiles has asked that the insert be used in only one on his helmet. Chiles "likes to be able to feel like he has some sort of outward exposure," Kolpacki said. Exposure is something the sophomore signal-caller from Long Beach, California, had in away games against Michigan and Oregon this season. Michigan Stadium welcomed 110,000-plus fans for the Oct. 26 matchup between the in-state rivals. And while just under 60,000 packed Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, for the Ducks' 31-10 win over Michigan State three weeks earlier, it was plenty loud. "The Big Ten has some pretty impressive venues," Kolpacki said. "It can be just deafening," he said. "That's what those fans are there for is to create havoc and make it difficult for coaches to get a play call off." Something that is a bit easier to handle thanks to Bush and her team. She called the inserts a "win-win-win" for everyone. "It's exciting for me to work with athletics and the football team," she said. "I think it's really exciting for our students as well to take what they've learned and develop and design something and see it being used and executed." Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Former US President Barack Obama has been one of the ore supporters and campaigners for Kamala Harris during the US Presidential elections 2024, but his efforts went down to a losing cause after Donald Trump broke all records to emerge as the President-elect of the United States. Ever since then, reports suggest that Obama has been losing his grip on the Democratic Party 's rank and file, with a majority of them being demoralized by the epic loss faced by Kamala Harris. ET Year-end Special Reads What kept India's stock market investors on toes in 2024? India's car race: How far EVs went in 2024 Investing in 2025: Six wealth management trends to watch out for Barack losing his grip on the Democratic Party? The Democratic sun may have stopped shining on the Obama family, with Barack facing the wrath of it through criticisms from the Dems, which is a very new experience, as he has earlier been remembered quite fondly for his ten years of consecutive, and 'glorious' Presidency. Obama's seal of approval, especially during the Democratic National Convention 2024 , gave Harris the necessary throttle she needed, but that was not enough for her to manage a win, and she even ended up losing the strong hold regions of Obama, which he had won during his two successful campaigns. Obama put his legacy on the line Democratic strategist Julian Epstein was one of the first to point out a flaw in Barack Obama and a handful of senior Dems' judgement, as they took to batting for a completely untested candidate, Kamala Harris, when Joe Biden resigned, possibly after his dismal performance in the first US Presidential election debate against Donald Trump, where he was simply steamrolled by the now President -elect Donald Trump. FAQs: Is Michelle Obama a First Lady? Yes, Michelle Obama is a former First Lady, as she is married to former US President Barack Obama. Artificial Intelligence(AI) Java Programming with ChatGPT: Learn using Generative AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrows Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Generative AI for Dynamic Java Web Applications with ChatGPT By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Mastering C++ Fundamentals with Generative AI: A Hands-On By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Master in Python Language Quickly Using the ChatGPT Open AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Performance Marketing for eCommerce Brands By - Zafer Mukeri, Founder- Inara Marketers View Program Office Productivity Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance A2Z Of Money By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Marketing Modern Marketing Masterclass by Seth Godin By - Seth Godin, Former dot com Business Executive and Best Selling Author View Program Astrology Vastu Shastra Course By - Sachenkumar Rai, Vastu Shashtri View Program Strategy Succession Planning Masterclass By - Nigel Penny, Global Strategy Advisor: NSP Strategy Facilitation Ltd. View Program Data Science SQL for Data Science along with Data Analytics and Data Visualization By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI-Powered Python Mastery with Tabnine: Boost Your Coding Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Office Productivity Mastering Google Sheets: Unleash the Power of Excel and Advance Analysis By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Mastering Full Stack Development: From Frontend to Backend Excellence By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Data Science SQL Server Bootcamp 2024: Transform from Beginner to Pro By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Has Michelle Obama run in the US elections ? Michelle Obama has not run in the US elections yet, but there could be a possibility that she may run in the polls in the near future. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )LAS VEGAS -- LAS VEGAS (AP) — Formula 1 on Monday at last said it will expand its grid in 2026 to make room for an American team that is partnered with General Motors. “As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence. It’s an honor for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world’s premier racing series, and we’re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world," GM President Mark Reuss said. "This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.” The approval ends years of wrangling that launched a U.S. Justice Department investigation into why Colorado-based Liberty Media, the commercial rights holder of F1, would not approve the team initially started by Michael Andretti. Andretti in September stepped aside from leading his namesake organization, so the 11th team will be called Cadillac F1 and be run by new Andretti Global majority owners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter. The team will use Ferrari engines its first two years until GM has a Cadillac engine built for competition in time for the 2028 season. Towriss is the the CEO and president of Group 1001 and entered motorsports via Andretti's IndyCar team when he signed on financial savings platform Gainbridge as a sponsor. Towriss is now a major part of the motorsports scene with ownership stakes in both Spire Motorsports' NASCAR team and Wayne Taylor Racing's sports car team. Walter is the chief executive of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners and the controlling owner of both the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Premier League club Chelsea. “We’re excited to partner with General Motors in bringing a dynamic presence to Formula 1," Towriss said. "Together, we’re assembling a world-class team that will embody American innovation and deliver unforgettable moments to race fans around the world.’’ Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, will have an ambassador role with Cadillac F1. But his son, Michael, will have no official position with the organization now that he has scaled back his involvement with Andretti Global. The approval has been in works for weeks but was held until after last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix to not overshadow the showcase event of the Liberty Media portfolio. Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive championship in Saturday night's race, the third and final stop in the United States for the top motorsports series in the world. Grid expansion in F1 is both infrequent and often unsuccessful. Four teams were granted entries in 2010 that should have pushed the grid to 13 teams and 26 cars for the first time since 1995. One team never made it to the grid and the other three had vanished by 2017. There is only one American team on the current F1 grid — owned by California businessman Gene Haas — but it is not particularly competitive and does not field American drivers. Andretti’s dream was to field a truly American team with American drivers. The fight to add this team has been going on for three-plus years and F1 initially denied the application despite approval from F1 sanctioning body FIA . The existing 10 teams, who have no voice in the matter, also largely opposed expansion because of the dilution in prize money and the billions of dollars they’ve already invested in the series. Andretti in 2020 tried and failed to buy the existing Sauber team. From there, he applied for grid expansion and partnered with GM, the top-selling manufacturer in the United States. The inclusion of GM was championed by the FIA and president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who said Michael Andretti’s application was the only one of seven applicants to meet all required criteria to expand F1’s current grid. “General Motors is a huge global brand and powerhouse in the OEM world and is working with impressive partners," Ben Sulayem said Monday. "I am fully supportive of the efforts made by the FIA, Formula 1, GM and the team to maintain dialogue and work towards this outcome of an agreement in principle to progress this application." Despite the FIA's acceptance of Andretti and General Motors from the start, F1 wasn't interested in Andretti — but did want GM. At one point, F1 asked GM to find another team to partner with besides Andretti. GM refused and F1 said it would revisit the Andretti application if and when Cadillac had an engine ready to compete. “Formula 1 has maintained a dialogue with General Motors, and its partners at TWG Global, regarding the viability of an entry following the commercial assessment and decision made by Formula 1 in January 2024,” F1 said in a statement. “Over the course of this year, they have achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the 11th team GM/Cadillac, and that GM will enter as an engine supplier at a later time. Formula 1 is therefore pleased to move forward with this application process." Yet another major shift in the debate over grid expansion occurred earlier this month with the announced resignation of Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, who was largely believed to be one of the biggest opponents of the Andretti entry. “With Formula 1’s continued growth plans in the US, we have always believed that welcoming an impressive US brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport," Maffei said. "We credit the leadership of General Motors and their partners with significant progress in their readiness to enter Formula 1." ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racingAS THE last Budget before Singapore’s next general election (GE), Budget 2025 could tip towards addressing immediate challenges such as the cost of living, said political watchers. The speech on Feb 18 may thus include generous handouts and social transfers, though the government will still address long-term challenges such as economic transformation, they added. The next GE, to be held by Nov 23, 2025, will be the first in which Prime Minister Lawrence Wong leads the ruling People’s Action Party.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The sight was a common one for Andrew Kolpacki. For many a Sunday, he would watch NFL games on TV and see quarterbacks putting their hands on their helmets, desperately trying to hear the play call from the sideline or booth as tens of thousands of fans screamed at the tops of their lungs. When the NCAA's playing rules oversight committee this past spring approved the use of coach-to-player helmet communications in games for the 2024 season, Kolpacki, Michigan State's head football equipment manager, knew the Spartans' QBs and linebackers were going to have a problem. "There had to be some sort of solution," he said. As it turns out, there was. And it was right across the street. Kolpacki reached out to Tamara Reid Bush, a mechanical engineering professor who not only heads the school's Biomechanical Design Research Laboratory but also is a football season ticket-holder. Kolpacki "showed me some photos and said that other teams had just put duct tape inside the (earhole), and he asked me, 'Do you think we can do anything better than duct tape,?" Bush said. "And I said, 'Oh, absolutely.'" Bush and Rylie DuBois, a sophomore biosystems engineering major and undergraduate research assistant at the lab, set out to produce earhole inserts made from polylactic acid, a bio-based plastic, using a 3D printer. Part of the challenge was accounting for the earhole sizes and shapes that vary depending on helmet style. Once the season got underway with a Friday night home game against Florida Atlantic on Aug. 30, the helmets of starting quarterback Aidan Chiles and linebacker Jordan Turner were outfitted with the inserts, which helped mitigate crowd noise. DuBois attended the game, sitting in the student section. "I felt such a strong sense of accomplishment and pride," DuBois said. "And I told all my friends around me about how I designed what they were wearing on the field." All told, Bush and DuBois have produced around 180 sets of the inserts, a number that grew in part due to the variety of helmet designs and colors that are available to be worn by Spartan players any given Saturday. Plus, the engineering folks have been fine-tuning their design throughout the season. Dozens of Bowl Subdivision programs are doing something similar. In many cases, they're getting 3D-printed earhole covers from XO Armor Technologies, which provides on-site, on-demand 3D printing of athletic wearables. The Auburn, Alabama-based company has donated its version of the earhole covers to the equipment managers of programs ranging from Georgia and Clemson to Boise State and Arizona State in the hope the schools would consider doing business with XO Armor in the future, said Jeff Klosterman, vice president of business development. XO Armor first was approached by the Houston Texans at the end of last season about creating something to assist quarterback C.J. Stroud in better hearing play calls delivered to his helmet during road games. XO Armor worked on a solution and had completed one when it received another inquiry: Ohio State, which had heard Michigan State was moving forward with helmet inserts, wondered if XO Armor had anything in the works. "We kind of just did this as a one-off favor to the Texans and honestly didn't forecast it becoming our viral moment in college football," Klosterman said. "We've now got about 60 teams across college football and the NFL wearing our sound-deadening earhole covers every weekend." The rules state that only one player for each team is permitted to be in communication with coaches while on the field. For the Spartans, it's typically Chiles on offense and Turner on defense. Turner prefers to have an insert in both earholes, but Chiles has asked that the insert be used in only one on his helmet. Chiles "likes to be able to feel like he has some sort of outward exposure," Kolpacki said. Exposure is something the sophomore signal-caller from Long Beach, California, had in away games against Michigan and Oregon this season. Michigan Stadium welcomed 110,000-plus fans for the Oct. 26 matchup between the in-state rivals. And while just under 60,000 packed Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, for the Ducks' 31-10 win over Michigan State three weeks earlier, it was plenty loud. "The Big Ten has some pretty impressive venues," Kolpacki said. "It can be just deafening," he said. "That's what those fans are there for is to create havoc and make it difficult for coaches to get a play call off." Something that is a bit easier to handle thanks to Bush and her team. She called the inserts a "win-win-win" for everyone. "It's exciting for me to work with athletics and the football team," she said. "I think it's really exciting for our students as well to take what they've learned and develop and design something and see it being used and executed." Get local news delivered to your inbox!
A baby was found on a Colorado street Christmas morning. His parents have been arrested.
