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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When the MLS playoffs began late last month, everyone who follows Inter Miami assumed coach Tata Martino would be preparing his team for the conference semifinals this week. Instead, the runner up for MLS Coach of the Year was in the Chase Stadium interview room on Friday morning announcing his resignation two weeks after the team’s shocking first-round playoff exit. Martino said he wanted to diffuse rumors and stress that he is leaving strictly for personal reasons, that he must return to his hometown of Rosario, Argentina, and that his decision was made before the first playoff game in late-October. He said not even his coaching staff knew of his decision at the time as he did not want it to be a distraction. He informed Lionel Messi, managing owner Jorge Mas, and President of Football Operations Raul Sanllehi last Saturday and told the rest of the players on Wednesday, after they returned from the FIFA break. Martino has no plans to coach another club in the immediate future, saying he cannot take on another job in early 2025 because he needs to focus on personal matters in Rosario. Mas said his conversation with Martino ended at 11 a.m. last Saturday, the search for a new coach began “at 11:01” and that the club had selected a new coach by Wednesday, are finalizing contract details and “will be announcing a new coach for Inter Miami in the upcoming days.” Javier Mascherano, an Argentine national team legend and former teammate of Messi’s, is the leading candidate to replace Martino, according to a few league sources. Media reports from Argentina say it is a done deal. Mas would not confirm or deny the Mascherano rumors but said that the new coach will have a winning history at the highest level as a player or coach, have familiarity with Messi and the other team stars, and will be well-suited to lead Miami’s elite players as well as its young players. “We have a very unique situation at Inter Miami where we have the best player in the world on our team, accompanied by generational talents like Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, accompanied by academy kids like Benja Cremaschi, Noah Allen, Ian Fray, David Ruiz, who have played significant minutes, and also young budding stars like Facundo Farias, Toto Aviles, Diego Gomez, Fede Redondo, so it will take a manager to play the attacking style we want to play with that combination of players,” Mas said. Mascherano, the 40-year-old ex-Barcelona defensive midfielder, has been coaching Argentina’s U-20 team the past three years and coached Argentina in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He has a storied playing career but has never coached a club team and has no experience in MLS, which is quite different from other leagues around the world in everything from schedule to salary structure. Asked how involved Messi was in the coaching search, Mas said: “I spoke to Leo, and he gave his input. Familiarity with Leo and the other stars is an advantage in every aspect. I want Leo to feel comfortable with the new coach, but Raul and I spearheaded the search. “This is not our first coaching search. I have been involved in interviewing some of the world’s best coaches since 2019. We have more experience now. We know exactly what we want. That’s why we were able to accomplish this search in five days. ... This is not the first time I spoke to this individual. We came close [to hiring him] in 2020, and he has been following our team and the league closely.” Mas added that while MLS experience would be a plus, it is not a necessary criteria for the incoming coach, and then repeated that the main attributes they were looking for were a coach who could manage a locker room of stars and youngsters. “We want to thank Tata Martino and appreciate everything he has given this club for the past year and a half,” Mas said. “His fingerprints and success will always be part of our history.” Mas pointed out that the team, under Martino, lifted the Leagues Cup trophy in the summer of 2023, made the final of the U.S. Open Cup, won the 2024 Supporters’ Shield and broke the league’s points record. Martino, 62, led Inter Miami to a league-record 74 points, which also earned the team the Supporters’ Shield for best regular season record. The team scored a league-high 79 goals. Miami, with a star-studded roster including Argentine icon Messi and three of his former Barcelona teammates, fell short of expectations with a first-round exit from the MLS Playoffs after losing the best 2-of-3 series to Atlanta United. Martino had a year remaining on his contract. He joined Inter Miami in July 2023 upon Messi’s arrival and was a natural choice to get the job as he led Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title in that club’s second season, had coached in two World Cups with Paraguay and Mexico, reached three Copa America finals and, vitally important, coached Messi at FC Barcelona and with the Argentine national team. Martino replaced Phil Neville and took over a team that was in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-13-0 record just past the midway point of the season. With the addition of Messi, Busquets and Alba, Martino led the team to the 2023 Leagues Cup title later that summer. Upon announcing his decision on Friday, Martino took time to thank team ownership and management and lamented that he couldn’t continue being part of the club’s growth next season. “It has been a very satisfactory year and a half, I am grateful for the opportunity, and although we ended the season on a sour note, and fell short of what we wanted to accomplish, we had a lot of success and I would have liked very much to have continued being part of this club,” Martino said. “I am happy we transformed this club from one that struggled to make the playoffs to the one that won the Leagues Cup, won Supporters’ Shield, and had the best record in history.” Martino was asked how his players reacted to the news. “It’s clear when you leave a job so abruptly, especially when there aren’t any apparent reasons, it hard to expect people to understand,” Martino said. “There are many coaches out there who would love this job. People would say, `This guy is crazy, working in this team, living in this place, working in this league and he’s leaving where everyone wants to be.’ I have had moments like this in my career. Things happen, and you have to leave. I appreciate that the players respected my decision and the club will go on.” Asked what the team was missing during the playoff series with Atlanta, he replied that Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan was decisive in all three games, that Inter Miami played well and was in position to win all three games, and there were some intangibles and moments that went against Miami. “I know someone from the outside hears that and thinks I am not being self-critical, which is not true. I am. People will debate if we should have played four in back or five, but if I had to do it again, I would line up the same way. In hindsight, it is easy to debate, and everyone has a right to their opinion.” Mas also addressed the futures of Suarez, whose contract expires in December, and Alba, who has an option for next season, and dismissed rumors that sporting director Chris Henderson was headed to another club. “I think Luis Suarez has been an amazing addition to our team and our league,” Mas said. “What he did this year was spectacular. Jordi Alba, my personal opinion is he had the best season of any left back on MLS history and I don’t think it’s close. We’re going to continue to have the best team we can. There are no budget limitations, we will continue to bring top players from all over the world ... and use every single roster mechanism we can.” ©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Presenter Fearne Cotton has said she is "healing well" and feeling "almost normal" weeks after having two benign tumours removed from her jaw. The TV, radio, and podcast host, 43, posted pictures of her scars on her Instagram page on Saturday. "The human body is incredible," she wrote. "In less than three weeks you can barely notice where I had the tumour removed. "I feel almost normal. My ear is still quite numb and my face a little tender but other than that I'm feeling good." Instagram Instagram , which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the This content is provided by, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend...

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SOUTH EASTON, Mass. (AP) — Louie Semona's 22 points helped Stonehill defeat New Hampshire 90-83 on Sunday. Semona also added six rebounds for the Skyhawks (7-7). Chas Stinson scored 16 points while going 6 of 10 and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line and added five assists and three steals. Josh Morgan shot 4 of 8 from the field, including 0 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the line to finish with 12 points. Sami Pissis finished with 20 points for the Wildcats (2-12). Khalil Badru added 15 points for New Hampshire. Giancarlo Bastianoni also put up 14 points and 12 rebounds. The loss was the Wildcats' sixth in a row. Stonehill's next game is Sunday against Lafayette on the road, and New Hampshire visits Iowa on Monday. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by and data from . The Associated PressCyclone Tracy left 66 people dead, and tens of thousands more homeless and dislocated. One of Australia's worst natural disasters, part of what made Tracy so shocking was the way it struck, when the city least expected it. December 24, 1974, Eileen Clough was snapped in Casuarina for the front page of the Northern Territory News. The moment is eerily frozen in time. Her hair is done up, she's smiling at her kids and her shopping trolley is filled with food. Eileen Clough was doing what many of Darwin's 43,000 residents were doing that day — preparing her stocks for Christmas Day lunch, a meal she would never live to see through. Kim Clough remembers that afternoon with her mum with perfect clarity. "We did a huge shop on Christmas Eve, like a two-trolley shop," Kim says. "We took the groceries home, did our Christmas wrapping, put our presents under the tree ... then it was just a matter of waiting for Christmas Day." At the same time, over in the suburb of Moil, Renata Papantoniou was organising a feast for her extended family. "We were going to have the piglet, a turkey, cheesecakes, salads and all the rest – it was going to be a big lunch," she says. "Which we didn't get around to eating, in the end." Days before Christmas, a tropical low was gathering strength out on the Arafura Sea. On December 21 off the coast of the Tiwi Islands, it formed into a cyclone. It was given a name — one that would prove fateful, historic and deadly: Cyclone Tracy. Darwin residents were told the system posed no immediate threat to their city, with forecasters predicting it would move west, out over the ocean. But tropical cyclones are notoriously difficult to predict, and the system continued to strengthen. Then, on Christmas Eve it sharply changed direction. "Everybody just kept going on with their lives," Ms Papantoniou says. "We just said, 'oh well, it'll be nothing, just like the other one'." A few weeks earlier, the city had a scare. A system named Cyclone Selma was tracking towards the Northern Territory coastline. But as many Territorians now recount, that cyclone fizzled out. "Nothing happened, and when they gave us the warning that this other cyclone was coming, we just didn't take much notice," Ms Papantoniou says. Direct hit on Darwin predicted As Tracy thundered towards the NT capital, Roland Chin was working at his father's general store. Late that afternoon, the weather took a hostile turn. "There was a lot of rain and it was starting to get a bit horizontal," he says. "Water was coming in under the door ... and the wind was getting stronger and stronger." By evening, Raelene McAdam, then a Nightcliff Primary School student, was readying herself for her first midnight mass. Then the news came through: the mass was cancelled. Sirens began blasting through the radio. The warnings were coming through that Tracy's trajectory had shifted and it was going to be a direct hit on Darwin. The McAdams realised they were in for a rough night. 'An evil wind' Cesarina Gonzadi had just finished Christmas Eve dinner and put her children to bed – restless as they were that Santa may not be able to land in the ferocious wind. Ms Gonzadi says there was something sinister in the sky that night. "The sky was green," she says. "Never was a sky like that. "Wind and rain really strong, and the house in front ... was already going. "We weren't prepared for this cyclone [to] come." In the city's north, Larrakia-Warumungu woman Christine Fejo-King was house-sitting with her sister. The seriousness of the situation was dawning on her. "As it started to get quite strong, we said let's go and put on our jeans and we'll put on some boots, 'cause we weren't gonna be found in our nighties dead in our beds the next day," Dr Fejo-King recounts. By 10pm, she says the wind was screaming like "a banshee". "The wind was evil. "The wind wanted to get you and kill you." Despite best efforts of authorities to get the message out that Tracy had become a significant threat to human safety, for some the word wouldn't come through in time. Dwyn Delaney was at a house party hosted by some of the hospital's health workers. Late that evening, he stepped outside to assess the conditions. "I saw a bus sign go past at about 120 kays an hour. It weighed a tonne," he says. "And I'd had a few and I thought, 'I'd better go back to the party'." By 3am, the wind had reached 217 kilometres per hour and was growing stronger. Nobody will ever know just how fast Tracy's winds reached – the city's wind measurement device was destroyed. 'A maelstrom of destruction' Suddenly, everything fell eerily silent. The cyclone's eye was sitting over the city. "We were so scared," says Roland Chin. "My memory of the eye is just silence." Some took that moment of pause to find a safer space in cars and neighbours' homes. But the worst of Tracy's wrath was yet to come. "It went from this lull to full power, instantly, in the other direction," says Jared Archibald, the NT Museum and Art Gallery's curator of Territory History. "And that's when so much damage was done. "That's when houses exploded off piers, when trees were uprooted and pulled out of the ground, when everything turned into a maelstrom of destruction." Trisha Sheppard was sheltering at home with her husband and four-year-old son. "The walls of the house were moving in and out, like they were pulsating," she says. "The noise was absolutely unforgettable. "It was like the house was screaming in its death throes." At 12 Keene Place in Millner, the Clough family huddled underneath a bed as Kim's mum Eileen sang Silent Night to soothe her children's nerves. That's the last thing Kim remembers before she woke up outside, frantic, on the cold and wet grass. Her house was gone, exploded into shards. "We were on the ground and it was pelting with rain and it was cold, and there was lightning," says Kim. She saw her mother lying, pale, and a terrible realisation shuddered through her. "She'd been hit by a roofing beam on the way down," says Kim. Eileen Clough lost her life that night, and her three children were left without a mother. Dawn breaks over a destroyed city Dawn on Christmas Day. Complete silence. No birds, no trees, no wind. In Nightcliff, a young newspaper reporter emerged out from underneath a table, where he'd spent the storm hunkered with his housemates. Now, after a storied career in Australian journalism, Alan Kohler can't forget the terror of Tracy or the eeriness of its immediate aftermath. "It was biblical, the darkness was complete," the ABC's finance presenter recalls. That morning, he and his friends were confronted by an apocalyptic scene. "As far as I could see, every house was demolished," he says. "There wasn't a house standing in Nightcliff at all. "And I thought at that moment that we must be the only people alive." Out of the detritus of the fallen city, a car suddenly appeared on the horizon. The group realised they weren't the lone survivors, and started walking towards the nearby school. When they opened the gates, the miracle sunk in: many others had also made it through. "Everyone was there," Kohler says. Makeshift emergency centres cropped up in schools across Darwin. Eventually, the news began to trickle out: Cyclone Tracy had destroyed the city and thousands of people were now left without power, limited water, food and communications. What happened next would prove to be the biggest evacuation in peacetime Australia. Time to go Those injured were the first evacuated from the disaster zone. Kim Clough, her brothers David and Perry, and her badly injured father Colin would be among them, taken onboard a Hercules and shuttled to Sydney's Royal North Shore. "My worry was that [Dad] was going to die too," Ms Clough says. "That was my biggest fear." Colin and 12-year-old Kim were interviewed in hospital. Within 10 days, more than 25,000 residents would be flown out of Darwin. "It was scary because we are Larrakia people, we had never been away from country," Christine Fejo-King says. "The army had come in ... they said 'all the men have to stay behind'. "So, my dad had to stay. And the children and my mum, we had to go. "We didn't know where we were going." Families were separated at the airport — some voluntarily, some by force. Dr Fejo-King said some men tried to disguise themselves as women so they could stay with their families. For the Gonzadi family, as they packed a suitcase and bid a tearful farewell to their father, the path before them was full of unknowns. Emilio Gonzadi was just six years old, but clearly remembers touching down in Adelaide, braced by the cool summer air. "We got into the airport, and it was an eye-opener," Mr Gonzadi says. "Adelaide had opened their hearts up. "Trestle tables everywhere of food, clothing ... people were just so welcoming, like, you'd get hugs from strangers." While many began their new lives outside the doors of southern city airports, for around 10,000 others, the Stuart Highway offered another route out of ground zero in Darwin. All along the track to South Australia, townspeople greeted a steady stream of Top End stragglers in their cyclone-damaged vehicles with warmth and assistance. Those who stayed behind Reduced to a fraction of its population, some workers were allowed to remain in Darwin. Armed with trucks, tarps and tools, those who stayed spent long, gruelling days under the territory sun to clean the streets, and eventually start rebuilding the city from scratch. With her husband and son, Maureen Waldmann was among those who stayed to chip in. "We were an army of squatters," Ms Waldmann says. "We found places that had a roof, not always power, and moved from one place to another. "I think it was a new adventure." In a moment of national unity, Australia pulled together to help Darwin in its time of need. The navy mobilised to clean the suburbs, linesmen tackled the lack of power, and interstate police patrolled the streets, trying to prevent inevitable incidents of looting and lawlessness. "The rest of Australia just rallied and came to our aid," Ms Waldmann says. "It was just one miracle after another." Five decades on, the memory lingers Fifty years since Tracy, signs of the cyclone that tore Darwin apart are barely visible. But former power technician Steve Allen, who helped restore the city's electricity, can still spot the telltale reminders. "The reconstruction was astonishing," he says now. "[But] you could still see ... a lot of evidence of the destruction." In Tracy's wake, many residents never returned. But many others did, and continue to prosper in the resilient tropical city — a city razed twice in the 20th century, once by Tracy, once by war. While Tracy remains the most powerful cyclone to have ever lashed Darwin, there have been other direct hits, like Cyclone Marcus in 2018. "Darwin has gone through numerous cyclones, and it still will," Dr Fejo-King says. "But the resilience of the people remains strong." For those who lost nearly everything in Tracy, the grief has never truly abated. On a still morning at a Darwin cemetery, a quiet sob escapes Kim Clough. "God bless you, mum," she whispers, as she places flowers by her mother's gravesite. She's been reluctant to make this journey for decades — to finally see her mother's resting place in Darwin, 50 years since she lost her life. "She was sensitive, she was caring, she was soft, and ... just there," she says. But as Tracy's 50th anniversary arrives, for Kim, a calm acceptance has also settled in. "You can't predict these things," she says. "You just gotta accept them, and move on. "How can you resent an act of nature?" Credits Related topics Accidents and Emergency Incidents Cyclones Darwin HistorySupreme Court will take up a challenge related to California's tough vehicle emissions standards WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says it will take up a business-backed appeal that could make it easier to challenge federal regulations, acting in a dispute related to California’s nation-leading standards for vehicle emissions. The justices agreed Friday to hear an appeal filed by fuel producers who object to a waiver granted to California in 2022 by the Environmental Protection Agency during Joe Biden’s presidency. The waiver allows California to set more stringent emissions limits than the national standard. The case won’t be argued until the spring, when the Trump administration is certain to take a more industry-friendly approach to the issue. Musk says US is demanding he pay penalty over disclosures of his Twitter stock purchases DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission wants him to pay a penalty or face charges involving what he disclosed — or failed to disclose — about his purchases of Twitter stock before he bought the social media platform in 2022. In a letter, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro tells the outgoing SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, that the commission’s demand for a monetary payment is a “misguided scheme” that won’t intimidate Musk. The letter also alleges that the commission reopened an investigation this week into Neuralink, Musk’s computer-to-human brain interface company. The SEC has not released the letter. Nor would it comment on it or confirm whether it has issued such a demand to Musk. Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is pushing toward a vote on legislation that would provide full Social Security benefits to millions of people. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer began the process on Thursday for a final vote on the bill, known as the Social Security Fairness Act. It would eliminate policies that currently limit Social Security payouts for roughly 2.8 million people. The legislation has passed the House. The bill would add more strain on the Social Security Trust funds, which are already estimated to be unable to pay out full benefits beginning in 2035. The measure would add an estimated $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Trump offers support for dockworkers union by saying ports shouldn't install more automated systems WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is offering his support for the dockworkers union before their contract expires next month at Eastern and Gulf Coast ports. He posted on social media Thursday that he met with union leaders and that any further “automation” of the ports would harm workers. He wrote that the “amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers.” The International Longshoremen’s Association has until Jan. 15 to negotiate a new contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents ports and shipping companies. The Maritime Alliance says the technology will improve worker safety and strengthen our supply chains, among other things. 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OpenAI's legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI 'dictatorship' A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and best avoid an artificial intelligence ‘dictatorship’ is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker’s ongoing conversion into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year. Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully. OpenAI is filing its response Friday. OpenAI's Altman will donate $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund LOS ANGELES (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to make a $1 million personal donation to President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships the incoming administration. A spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed the move on Friday. The announcement comes one day after Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it donated $1 million to the same fund. Amazon also said it plans to donate $1 million. China signals it's prepared to double down on support for the economy as Trump tariffs loom BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese leaders met this week to plot economic policy for the coming year and sketched out plans to raise government spending and relax Beijing's monetary policy. Analysts said the broad-brush plans from the annual Central Economic Work Conference were more of a recap of current policy than ambitious new initiatives at a time when the outlook is clouded by the President-elect Donald Trump's threats to sharply raise tariffs once he takes office. The ruling Communist Party did commit to raising China's deficit and to doing more to encourage consumer spending by bringing wage increases in line with the pace of economic growth. Here's a look at China's main priorities and their potential implications. Stock market today: Wall Street ends mixed after a bumpy week Stock indexes closed mixed on Wall Street at the end of a rare bumpy week. The S&P 500 ended little changed Friday. The benchmark index reached its latest in a string of records a week ago. It lost ground for the week following three weeks of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.1%. Broadcom surged after the semiconductor company beat Wall Street’s profit targets and gave a glowing forecast, highlighting its artificial intelligence products. RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, surged after raising its revenue forecast. Treasury yields rose in the bond market. Next Week: Retail sales, Fed policy update, existing home sales The Commerce Department releases its monthly snapshot of U.S. retail sales Tuesday. Federal Reserve officials wrap up a two-day meeting and issue an interest rate policy update Wednesday. The National Association of Realtors issues its latest update on U.S. home sales Thursday.