WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time, with no real consensus on a strategy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Schumer faced no opposition in the party leadership elections, in which Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was also reelected to the No. 2 spot and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the new No. 3. In a statement, Schumer, of New York, said he was honored to move the party forward “during this crucial period for our country.” “Our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.” While Schumer remains popular with his colleagues, it is a bleak moment for Senate Democrats, who had been hopeful that they could hold the majority for the third election in a row. Instead they lost four seats and will be in the minority, 53-47, as Trump takes office and pressures the Senate to quickly confirm his Cabinet nominees. Unlike eight years ago, when opposition to Trump’s narrow election win fueled enthusiasm in their party, Democratic lawmakers and many of their voters are exhausted and looking for answers. So far, Democrats have stayed relatively quiet on Trump’s nominees and plans for office – a stark contrast from the loud opposition to Trump when he was elected eight years ago. Schumer has declined to comment on specifics of any nominees, instead allowing Republican reaction to dominate the conversation. On Monday, Schumer wrote a public letter to South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the incoming Republican majority leader, asking him to resist Trump’s pressure to allow him to appoint some of his nominees without a Senate vote and to insist on full FBI background checks for all nominees. But he has said little else about Trump’s upcoming presidency. While some have been more aggressive — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a former chairwoman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, said that Trump’s nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department is “dangerous” and “nothing short of disaster” — several Democratic senators say they are saving their strength and figuring out a focus. “Everybody’s in kind of in a wait-and-see mode right now,” said Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who is part of Schumer’s leadership team. “Under the previous Trump administration, there was chaos all the time, all the time. And I do think it is important to pick your battles.” It’s still unclear which battles they will pick. And Democrats have differing opinions on how to fight them. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who is also in Democratic leadership, says that “anyone who has a grand strategy is full of crap,” but thinks that Democrats, for now, “need to keep things simple.” “We need to talk about people, protect people, advocate for people,” Schatz said. “Do not talk about protecting institutions. Do not talk about advocating for institutions. It’s a not just a rhetorical shift, but an attitudinal shift. We have to remind ourselves, that we’re not fighting for programs and projects and line items and agencies or norms. We’re fighting for people.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said that he’s spent a lot of time reflecting, and “I don’t think anyone can claim this was a policy election,” and Democrats need to look at cultural issues. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman says Democrats just need to “pace ourselves” and avoid the “massive freakout” of Trump’s last term. Democrats should be preparing, says Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. He says Schumer is picking his battles “very thoughtfully and strategically.” “We’re thinking about how we protect against using the FBI, or the prosecutorial authority of the Justice Department for retribution against critics,” said Blumenthal. “How we elevate these issues in a way that American people understand them.” Democrats know better now, after eight years, “the extraordinary challenges we’re going to face,” Blumenthal said.Thirteen years previously, the Northern Ireland Women’s team achieved what is widely considered the biggest one-off result in their history. Taking the scalp of a team that was a European Championship Semi-Finalist just a couple of years earlier sent shock waves around the continent. The team on the end of that surprise result was Norway when Kirsty McGuinness, Ashley Hutton and Rachel Furness scored the goals in a wonderful 3-1 win under former manager Alfie Wylie. Norway went on to finish second at the Women’s Euro 2013 Finals, and now the same opponents stand in the way of Northern Ireland and a second successive Euros, with captain Simone Magill – the only surviving member of the squad – recalling the past as she targets a repeat in the final Play-Off for Women’s Euro 2025 ahead of Friday’s first-leg clash at Inver Park. “I remember it really well,” says Magill, who played the final 20 minutes as a substitute that night at Mourneview Park. “I was only 17 at the time and I remember, similar to this game, we were ruled the underdogs, no one expected us to get anything from that game, and I think for us, in the landscape of Northern Ireland women’s football, it was a real historic night. “We defied all the odds and we came away with a win. If you want to look at underdog stories, that’s one right there that we have done, and that’s the message that we will implement into the group this week, that anything is possible. “At the time, Norway were ranked one of the top teams in Europe, and where we were at on our journey, it was unheard of. We’d no professional players back then, either, so the fact that we were able to do it then, it should give us our own belief that anything can happen. “We just approached the game that if we believe we can go and do something, then we will go and do it. “We got an early goal, and that really instils the belief that we had something to hold on to – and then we went and got another one. “Those kind of messages are what we have to take into Friday that, yes, the pressure is completely on Norway, no one expects us to come away with anything in this game.” Magill isn’t the only player who was in the early stages of her international career back in 2013 and who will again lace up their boots at Inver Park. Norway’s Ballon d’Or Feminin winner Ada Hergerberg made her debut off the bench as a 16-year-old when Norway tried to rescue something from the game, and three-time Champions League winner Caroline Graham Hansen was winning only her second cap. With almost 100 goals between them at international level, Norway will again lean on their star duo to deliver the goals to send them to another Euro Finals. Magill is cast in the same role for Northern Ireland. “As a team, we are fully aware that we might not get a lot of chances and that, as a team, we need to be clinical in those moments, we need to be ruthless if we get a sniff, and if we get a set-piece, we have to make absolutely everything count,” she says. “We know the kind of task that is up ahead and what Norway bring and their strengths, so it is going to be a game that if we get a chance, we know that we have to take it.” When it comes to goals, Magill, who has 25 for her country, is in form. She scored twice for her club Birmingham City Women on Sunday – ironically past international team-mate Jackie Burns – and taking that form into Northern Ireland’s biggest games since the Euro 2022 Finals is perfectly timed for manager Tanya Oxtoby. “As a striker, it’s all about confidence,” adds Magill. “To get off the mark in open play – I had already scored a penalty – and be coming off the back of scoring two goals means confidence is high and, going into the game this week, we might only get one opportunity so, hopefully, that confidence will work in my favour.”
LAS VEGAS — Players Era Festival organizers have done what so many other have tried — bet their fortunes in this city that a big payoff is coming. Such bet are usually bad ones, which is why so many massive casino-resorts have been built on Las Vegas Boulevard. But it doesn't mean the organizers are wrong. They're counting on the minimum of $1 million in guaranteed name, image and likeness money that will go to each of the eight teams competing in the neutral-site tournament that begins Tuesday will create a precedent for other such events. EverWonder Studios CEO Ian Orefice, who co-founded Players with former AND1 CEO Seth Berger, compared this event to last year's inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament that played its semifinals and final in Las Vegas by saying it "did really well to reinvigorate the fan base at the beginning of the year." People are also reading... "We're excited that we're able to really change the paradigm in college basketball on the economics," Orefice said. "But for us, it's about the long term. How do we use the momentum that is launching with the 2024 Players Era Festival and be the catalyst not to change one event, but to change college basketball for the future." Orefice and Berger didn't disclose financial details, but said the event will come close to breaking even this year and that revenue is in eight figures. Orefice said the bulk of the revenue will come from relationships with MGM, TNT Sports and Publicis Sport & Entertainment as well as sponsors that will be announced later. Both organizers said they are so bullish on the tournament's prospects that they already are planning ahead. Money made from this year's event, Orefice said, goes right back into the company. "We're really in this for the long haul," Orefice said. "So we're not looking at it on a one-year basis." Rick Giles is president of the Gazelle Group, which also operates several similar events, including the College Basketball Invitational. He was skeptical the financial numbers would work. Giles said in addition to more than $8 million going to the players, there were other expenses such as the guarantees to the teams. He said he didn't know if the tournament would make up the difference with ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorship money. The top bowl of the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be curtained off. "The math is highly challenging," Giles said. "Attendance and ticket revenues are not going to come anywhere close to covering that. They haven't announced any sponsors that I'm aware of. So it all sort of rests with their media deal with Turner and how much capital they want to commit to it to get these players paid." David Carter, a University of Southern California adjunct professor who also runs the Sports Business Group consultancy, said even if the Players isn't a financial success this year, the question is whether there will be enough interest to move forward. "If there is bandwidth for another tournament and if the TV or the streaming ratings are going to be there and people are going to want to attend and companies are going to want to sponsor, then, yeah, it's probably going to work," Carter said. "But it may take them time to gain that traction." Both founders said they initially were met with skepticism about putting together such an event, especially from teams they were interested in inviting. Houston was the first school to commit, first offering an oral pledge early in the year and then signing a contract in April. That created momentum for others to join, and including the No. 6 Cougars, half the field is ranked. "We have the relationships to operate a great event," Berger said. "We had to get coaches over those hurdles, and once they knew that we were real, schools got on board really quickly." The founders worked with the NCAA to make sure the tournament abided by that organization's rules, so players must appear at ancillary events in order to receive NIL money. Strict pay for play is not allowed, though there are incentives for performance. The champion, for example, will receive $1.5 million in NIL money. Now the pressure is on to pull off the event and not create the kind of headlines that can dog it for years to come. "I think everybody in the marketplace is watching what's going to happen (this) week and, more importantly, what happens afterwards," Giles said. "Do the players get paid on a timely basis? And if they do, that means that Turner or somebody has paid way more than the market dictates? And the question will be: Can that continue?" CREIGHTON: P oint guard Steven Ashworth likely won’t play in the No. 21 Bluejays’ game against San Diego State in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Ashworth sprained his right ankle late in a loss to Nebraska on Friday and coach Greg McDermott said afterward he didn’t know how long he would be out. Be the first to knowBy Gareth McKnight , Rosanne Maloney , Mya Kordic and Tabarak Al Jrood In scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster, a television personality has helped wrangle a stowaway snake on a plane in Western Australia's north. Virgin flight VA1482, scheduled to take off from Broome at 10.30am and destined for Perth, was delayed by 20 minutes as the reptile was removed. And in a bizarre twist, TV personality Andre Rerekura has been shown on a social media video as the man who took the snake off the plane before the aircraft departed. Rerekura, who stars on Disney's Shipwreck Hunters Australia , described the snake as a "cute" Stimson's python. Non-venomous and harmless, Stimson's pythons are a common sight in the north of Australia - especially during the hotter summer months. Rerekura said the plane was getting ready to take off when someone yelled out there was a snake on board. "They pretty much shut the whole plane down and everyone was going to get disembarked and sent off the plane which we weren't that keen for because everyone wanted to go home," he said. "It was a little bit of a weird story to think it was true, to hear that there was a snake on the plane, so I don't think a lot of people believed it." Rerekura said a lady behind him screamed as it slithered by before ending up next to his foot. "I think everyone was relieved that they didn't have to get off the plane and then a lot of people were happy that the snake was safe," he said. "The staff were awesome, they gave me a complimentary drink, I had a soda water." 'Never a dull moment' In a separate video posted to Instagram, an air hostess can be heard in exasperated tones over the intercom. Without hesitation, he grabbed the "crazy cute" Stimson's python and took it off the aircraft. "As soon as I saw it, I identified it pretty easily ... so I knew it was safe [and] I knew it was just scared and super shy," he said. "So I just wanted to get it off real quick ... it was super cute but some of the air hostesses were running the other way." His brave act was met with cheering from other passengers and cabin crew on board. "There is never a dull moment in aviation - but that certainly takes the cake," a cabin crew member said. "We do have a gentleman onboard who has safely taken it off the aircraft. "We are going to continue as normal - I don't really know what else to say." A Virgin spokesperson said the airline was "aware of an incident on board VA1482" and the flight had continued as planned once the snake was removed. Broome International Airport chief executive Craig Shaw said he was "uncertain how the reptile came to be on board". "Our staff assisted in the removal of the reptile and there was minimal disruption to the service," he said. "Any further questions should be directed to the airline." - ABCBiden Pledges US Support for Syria, Its Neighbors After Collapse of Assad Regime
VILLANOVA (4-3) Carter 3-10 6-8 13, Edmanson 2-6 3-4 8, Bascoe 5-15 0-0 12, Power-Cassidy 3-8 0-0 9, Webber 2-10 0-0 5, Burke 4-8 0-0 11, Green 1-5 0-0 2, Orihel 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 21-63 9-12 62 BAYLOR (5-2) Fontleroy 3-8 2-2 9, Littlepage-Buggs 4-6 3-4 11, Vonleh 8-11 3-5 19, Andrews 4-7 4-6 15, Walker 5-8 1-2 11, Abraham 0-0 0-0 0, Felder 3-5 1-2 8, Jennings 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 27-46 14-21 73 3-Point Goals_Villanova 11-24 (Carter 1-2, Edmanson 1-2, Bascoe 2-6, Power-Cassidy 3-4, Webber 1-3, Burke 3-6, Green 0-1), Baylor 5-11 (Fontleroy 1-5, Andrews 3-4, Felder 1-1, Jennings 0-1). Assists_Villanova 15 (Bascoe 7), Baylor 15 (Walker 5). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Villanova 25 (Carter 6, Green 6), Baylor 42 (Fontleroy 9, Littlepage-Buggs 9). Total Fouls_Villanova 20, Baylor 16. Technical Fouls_None. A_158.