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Patriots' Latest Roster Moves Hint at Major Defensive ChangesAP News Summary at 6:15 p.m. EST
Municipal vacancy law hasn’t been kind to the Hoboken City Council, which was given just one month to find someone to fill the now vacant Sixth Ward council seat while simultaneously grieving the sudden loss of a colleague. Wednesday will be the final council meeting before the Dec. 5 deadline to appoint a new councilmember, and as of this week, members of the divided council said they are still struggling to find a candidate for the position that would receive enough votes to pass. If there is no vote, or if a candidate does not receive a majority of the votes, the seat will remain vacant until a special election next November. Sixth Ward Councilwoman Jen Giattino died unexpectedly Nov. 5 during the first year of her fourth term. Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, who had both a close personal friendship with Giattino and considered her an ally on the council, said that she has been interested in supporting Giattino’s husband, Joe Giattino, as the new councilmember should he be interested, but as of Monday could not confirm that he wanted to be nominated. “We have to find someone that will get five votes and there aren’t a lot of those people out there and we believe Joe would have five votes,” Fisher said. “I think people would know that he would honor her legacy and be fair, but are there other people as well? “Other people have put their hands up and we’ve had those conversations and it’s just very fluid. I can’t stress enough how challenging of a situation it is.” Jen Giattino always ran independently of Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s slate of candidates and faced opponents that he endorsed. With Giattino on the council, the members critical of the Bhalla Administration held a slight majority this year. Now, the council is more evenly split, with four councilmembers who ran and won as members of Team Bhalla and four who ran campaigns independent and often highly critical of the Bhalla administration. A newly appointed member could determine which cohort has a majority, which is likely the reason that the council has thus far struggled to agree on a candidate. Fisher said it is important to her that anyone who succeeds Giattino be someone who shares similar political views. RECOMMENDED • nj .com Hoboken plans to add 10 more police officers while eyeing further expansion next year Dec. 2, 2024, 4:30 p.m. What exactly is an ‘unconscionable’ rent increase? Hoboken councilmembers say 10% in proposed law Dec. 2, 2024, 3:40 p.m. “The residents of the Sixth Ward voted for Jen overwhelmingly four times and they voted for Jen and how she approaches things, what her policies are four times so it should be a huge responsibility to find the right person that represents similar interests,” she said. “On another hand we have a divided council, and maybe not everyone wants that to be the main priority.” Councilmembers Joe Quintero and Phil Cohen, who are allied with Bhalla, declined to discuss conversations they’ve been involved in about possible candidates. Cohen said as of Tuesday he was not aware of anyone who had the support of the majority of the council. “I suppose anything is possible, but it seems unlikely that in the next 24 hours that that’s going to change,” Cohen said.Precious few garments have been made of spider silk. In 2012, a cape and shawl made from natural spider silk were displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where visitors learned that the garments were the result of a unique project that spanned eight years and involved the harvesting of silk from 1.2 million spiders. In 2019, a rather less painstaking project utilized fibroin, the protein found in natural spider silk, to fabricate an outerwear jacket, North Face’s Moon Parka. Starting with fibroin meant that silk could be sourced from genetically modified bacteria, which are easier to work with than spiders. Nonetheless, the Moon Parka, which takes its name from the word moonshot, was never meant to be mass produced. It was available by lottery for just a limited time. Museum pieces and moonshots are hardly synonymous with “mass production.” Is there another way to generate spider silk–based textiles, one that has more commercial potential? Yes, according to Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, which uses transgenic silkworms to produce lines of recombinant spider silk. The company plans to produce up to 10 metric tons of spider silk in 2025. Production of actual spider silk lines on this scale would allow textile manufacturers to test the silk on their own equipment. It’s not just textiles that may benefit. Recombinant spider silk’s tensile strength, weight, and durability make it attractive for myriad applications, including tissue scaffolds and sutures in the biomedical field, as well as textiles and ballistic materials. “In a silkworm, there are several proteins that are produced in the silk glands,” Kim Thompson, founder and CEO of Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, tells . “One of those—a heavy chain fibroin—contributes roughly 96–98% of the molecular weight of the fiber.” Replacing the gene responsible for producing that protein with its counterpart in the spider results in recombinant spider silk. Kraig Biocraft produces spider silk using hybrid silkworms. As Thompson explains, hybrids of the two parental strains are more vigorous and produce better shaped cocoons. That vigor is passed down to subsequent generations. Kraig Biocraft’s approach appears to be unique in the spider silk industry. Other companies use vat fermentation to produce proteins that must be extracted, purified, and transformed into threads, adding steps and costs to the overall process. Spider silk’s high strength and light weight have attracted the interest of the U.S. Department of Defense. Dragline spider silk (which spiders use for the radial lines of their webs) requires 120,000–160,000 J/kg to break, whereas Kevlar requires 30,000–50,000 J/kg and steel requires 2,000–6,000 J/kg. Dragline spider silk weighs 1.18 and 1.36 g/cm , whereas Kevlar weighs 1.44 and steel weighs 7.84. Because spider silk combines strength, biocompatibility, and elasticity, it could be useful in tissue matrices and sutures. Dragline silk can increase its length by 27%, and flag silk (which spiders use for the spiral lines of their webs) can increase its length by 270%. Spider silk—or rather the technology behind it—could also be of interest to biopharmaceutical companies. For example, transgenic silkworms could serve as expression and production platforms for proteins other than spider silk proteins. Still, for Kraig Biocraft, the most immediate applications are in materials science. “We haven’t branched out into other areas that require more regulatory approval yet,” Thompson says. Thompson first approached the challenge of producing spider silk about 20 years ago. “I was looking at all the companies involved in that space,” he recalls. “The leader, Nexia Biotechnologies, was producing spider silk proteins in the milk of dairy goats.” “I thought that Nexia had misdiagnosed the problem and that it was about to hit a wall,” Thomson continues. Nexia’s method not only had difficulty with the mechanical challenges of transforming the proteins into fibers, but it was also extremely expensive. Thompson thought it would be better to create a cohesive fiber with the desired mechanical characteristics, than to create spider silk protein. He even suggested to Nexia that its scientists should use genetically engineered silkworms to produce fibers rather than using dairy goats to produce proteins. Nexia, however, preferred its approach, which yielded small proteins that were too weak to be spun into fiber. It declared bankruptcy in 2009. The University of Wyoming (UW), which held the rights to the genetic sequences Nexia has used to produce spider silk protein, granted Thompson exclusive rights to those sequences. “UW’s chief scientist, who had worked with Nexia, listed five reasons why it was scientifically impossible for these sequences to work in silkworms,” Thompson says. What that scientist may not have considered was that Thompson, working with molecular geneticist Malcolm J. Fraser, PhD, who then headed a laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, had a way to insert those sequences into silkworms. Fraser had co-developed the piggyback transposon, which “at the time was the only way to genetically engineer silkworms,” Thompson notes. Nonetheless, objections raised by the UW scientist reemerged every time Thompson approached a venture capital company for financing. Only by demonstrating dogged persistence did Thompson finally secure Kraig Biocraft the funding it needed to develop spider silk suitable for use by textile mills. Today, the company looks forward to starting commercial-scale production. “Our next inflection point is to produce the first metric ton of spider silk,” Thompson says. He adds that he is in discussions with “a number of significant players” to test Kraig’s recombinant spider silk on their machinery. The limiting factor, until now, has been an insufficient supply of product. “It’s hard to run a test when the world supply of spider silk has been measured in tens of kilograms,” he points out. To overcome supply problems, Kraig Biocraft plans to make good use of its new manufacturing site. “We have a backlog of order for prototype materials so they can make a test run,” Thompson says. According to Kraig Biocraft’s website, a kilogram of recombinant spider silk costs less than $300 to produce—about one tenth the cost of the protein alone using vat fermentation production methods. “To my knowledge, there are only three other companies involved in making spider silk: AMSilk, Bolt Threads, and Spiber,” Thompson says. Each uses vat fermentation to make the spider silk proteins, which he says significantly increases the costs. Thompson envisions a future of composite fibers in which spider silk is mixed with other textiles: “A lot of work continues to be done in that area, and it is accelerating.” He also points out that there are thousands of markets and technical applications for the advanced materials that are possible using recombinant spider silk: “We’re interested in capturing as much market share as we can, and we’re looking at new and expanded mechanical properties.” In the very near future, recombinant spider silk may be found in a range of products, from tissue scaffolds and sutures to performance fabrics. In that world, capes or expedition jackets made of spider silk won’t be rarities. They’ll be off-the-shelf articles. 2723 S State St, Ste 150, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (734) 619-8066 Kim Thompson, Founder and CEO 20 Recombinant spider silk–based fibers from genetically engineered silk worms.
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This photo shows the CR450AF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Prototypes of the CR450 bullet train, with a test speed of up to 450 kilometers per hour and an operational speed of 400 kilometers per hour, were debuted in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting China's cutting-edge advancements in rail technology and contributions to the global rail industry. The CR450 is significantly faster than the CR400 Fuxing high-speed trains currently in service, which operate at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour. The China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway) will arrange a series of line tests for the prototypes and optimize technical indicators to ensure the CR450 enters commercial service as soon as possible. INNOVATION-DRIVEN Compared to its predecessors, the overall operational resistance of the CR450 will be decreased by 22 percent and its weight will be cut by 10 percent, according to China Railway. The new prototypes are two CR450 models: the CR450AF and the CR450BF, both featuring an eight-car formation with four powered and four non-powered carriages, according to CRRC Corporation Limited (CRRC), China's leading train maker. The high-speed trains are characterized by an advanced, water-cooled, permanent magnet traction system, and a reliable, high-stability bogie system, ensuring excellent performance and safety throughout operations. The trains are equipped with an advanced, multi-level emergency braking system and over 4,000 sensors for the real-time monitoring of key systems, including car body, high-voltage pantograph, train control and fire detection systems. An over-the-horizon system has also been utilized for improved emergency situation recognition, according to the CRRC. The CR450 introduces a new bogie enclosure design to minimize air resistance at high speeds, along with a streamlined low-drag, sharp-nosed front, aerodynamic windshields and lightweight materials. It integrates advanced noise reduction techniques across different areas and frequencies, reducing interior noise by 2 decibels and increasing passenger service space by 4 percent compared to its predecessors. These innovations are set to breathe new life into the global advancement of high-speed rail technology, according to the CRRC. GLOBAL REACH Since it launched the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway in 2008 with designed speeds of 350 kilometers per hour, China has built the world's most extensive and advanced high-speed rail network. Major projects such as the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link have significantly enhanced connectivity and regional development. To date, the total length of China's operational high-speed rail tracks has reached about 47,000 kilometers, as shown by data from the National Railway Administration. The expansion of the national high-speed rail network has played a crucial role in the country's economic and social development, reducing travel times and boosting industrial development along railway routes. China's high-speed trains -- a successful example of independent innovation -- are now seen as a Chinese calling card and have been welcomed globally. It was noted in July this year that Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway had carried 4 million passengers since it began commercial operations on Oct. 17, 2023. Indonesian drivers have been operating trains at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour, in the first overseas high-speed railway project to fully utilize Chinese rail systems, technology and industrial components. The Belgrade-Novi Sad high-speed railway, another Chinese-built project, celebrated its second anniversary in March. Over the past two years, the project has effectively enhanced local connectivity. Initiated by the International Union of Railways (UIC) in 1992, the UIC World Congress on High-Speed Rail has been held every two to three years since. The 12th congress will be held in Beijing from July 8 to 11, 2025, and is set to be a powerful testament to China's progress in and contributions to the global high-speed rail industry. China has spearheaded the development of all 13 system-level international high-speed rail standards set by the UIC, as announced at the influential 17th Zhan Tianyou Railway Science and Technology Award ceremony in November. This photo shows an interior view of a carriage of the CR450AF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows a CR450AF (R) and a CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows the driving cab of the CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows an interior view of a business class carriage of the CR450AF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows a multi-purpose room aboard a carriage of the CR450AF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows the CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows a private compartment aboard the CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows the CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows a CR450BF (R) and a CR450AF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows an interior view of a business class carriage of the CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows a pulled-down tray table aboard the CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows an interior view of the economy class carriage of the CR450AF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) This photo shows a CR450AF (R) and a CR450BF bullet train in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 29, 2024. A prototype of the CR450 bullet train that will run at 400 kilometers per hour debuted in Beijing on Sunday, said the country's railway operator China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. The train is capable of running at 450 kilometers per hour in test. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
North Korea's Kim vows the toughest anti-US policy before Trump takes officeUnrivaled, the new 3-on-3 women's basketball league launching this winter, signed LSU star guard Flau'jae Johnson to a name, image and likeness deal. Johnson is the second college player to ink an agreement with Unrivaled, following UConn's Paige Bueckers. They won't be participating in the upcoming inaugural season, but Johnson and Bueckers will have equity stakes in the league. Unrivaled dropped a video on social media Thursday showing Johnson -- who also has a burgeoning rap career -- performing a song while wearing a shirt that reads, "The Future is Unrivaled." The deal will see Johnson create additional promotional content for the league. Johnson, 21, was a freshman on the LSU team that won the 2023 national championship. Now in her junior year, Johnson is averaging career highs of 22.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game through 10 games for the No. 5 Tigers (10-0). She ranks eighth in Division I in scoring. Johnson has career averages of 14.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 82 career appearances (80 starts) for LSU. --Field Level Media
Two Second Cup café locations at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital have been shut down and the franchise owner's contract terminated after the individual was filmed on Friday making "hateful remarks and gestures," according to the Canadian company. In a statement posted to its social media pages, Second Cup Canada said it has "zero tolerance for hate speech." "In co-ordination with the hospital, we've shut down the franchisee's café and are terminating their franchise agreement," the statement reads. The company said it will retain the staff and continue paying them until the locations at the hospital reopen under new management. The CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, the health authority that oversees the hospital, says it was made aware of a video "containing antisemitic and hateful messaging that has been circulating on social media." "We fully support Second Cup's decision to take swift and decisive action in this matter by shutting down the franchisee's cafés and terminating their lease agreement," a statement to CBC reads. It added the CIUSSS stands "firmly against antisemitism and any other form of discrimination or hate speech." The incident follows a surge in tensions in Montreal following recent protests. On Thursday, student protesters held a rally calling for Quebec post-secondary institutions to divest from companies with ties to Israel and called on the federal government to take a stance against the war in Gaza. On Friday, three people were arrested after protests by pro-Palestinian and anti-NATO demonstrators turned violent, with protesters throwing objects at police, lighting two vehicles on fire and breaking windows. The protest was condemned by politicians of all stripes Saturday as acts of antisemitism, which one organizer rejected, saying the protests were against the actions of the state of Israel and not Jewish people.
Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes Sunday and the Jacksonville Jaguars earned a season sweep of the visiting Tennessee Titans with a 20-13 victory. Jones connected on 15 of 22 passes for 174 yards, finding Parker Washington and rookie Bryan Thomas Jr. for scores, as Jacksonville (4-12) left Tennessee (3-13) behind in the AFC South cellar. Cam Little booted field goals of 48 and 44 yards. Mason Rudolph hit 19 of 31 attempts for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Titans, which dropped their fifth consecutive game. Tyjae Spears rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries, playing in place of Tony Pollard (flu/ankle). Jones' 11-yard scoring strike to Thomas with 7:05 left in the game gave the Jaguars a 20-10 lead but Tennessee responded with Matthew Wright's 28-yard field goal at the 2:02 mark. After getting a three-and-out, the Titans had a chance to force overtime and reached the Jacksonville 26. But Rudolph's fourth-down pass intended for Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was knocked down at the goal line with nine seconds left. The pregame storyline concerned which team could benefit most from a loss. Both entered a game behind the New York Giants for the potential No. 1 overall pick in April's NFL Draft. Jacksonville initiated scoring on the game's opening drive, needing to drive only 38 yards on nine plays to set up Little for his first field goal at the 10:46 mark. The Jaguars got into the end zone for the first time with 8:59 left in the half on Jones' 2-yard touchdown pass to Washington, coming five plays after Rudolph tossed a tipped-ball interception. Little's second field goal upped the margin to 13-0 with 2:02 remaining before Tennessee pieced together a two-minute drive that set up Wright for a 39-yard field goal as time expired, making it 13-3 at halftime. The Titans started the second half with their best drive of the game, chewing up 85 yards and eight minutes before Rudolph hit Nick Vannett with an 8-yard strike to cut the margin to 13-10. --Field Level Media
Lea Miller-Tooley hopped off a call to welcome the Baylor women’s basketball team to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, where 80-degree temperatures made it easy for the Bears to settle in on Paradise Island a week before Thanksgiving. About 5,000 miles west of the Caribbean nation, similar climes awaited Maui Invitational men's teams in Hawaii. They’ve often been greeted with leis, the traditional Hawaiian welcome of friendship. College basketball teams and fans look forward to this time of the year. The holiday week tournaments feature buzzworthy matchups and all-day TV coverage, sure, but there is a familiarity about them as they help ward off the November chill. For four decades, these sandy-beach getaways filled with basketball have become a beloved mainstay of the sport itself. “When you see (ESPN’s) ‘Feast Week’ of college basketball on TV, when you see the Battle 4 Atlantis on TV, you know college basketball is back,” said Miller-Tooley , the founder and organizer of the Battle 4 Atlantis men's and women's tournaments. “Because it’s a saturated time of the year with the NFL, college football and the NBA. But when you see these gorgeous events in these beautiful places, you realize, ‘Wow, hoops are back, let’s get excited.’” The Great Alaska Shootout was the trend-setting multiple-team event (MTE) nearly five decades ago. The brainchild of late Alaska-Anchorage coach Bob Rachal sought to raise his program’s profile by bringing in national-power programs, which could take advantage of NCAA rules allowing them to exceed the maximum allotment of regular-season games if they played the three-game tournament outside the contiguous 48 states. The first edition, named the Sea Wolf Classic, saw N.C. State beat Louisville 72-66 for the title on Nov. 26, 1978. The Maui Invitational followed in November 1984, borne from the buzz of NAIA program Chaminade’s shocking upset of top-ranked Virginia and 7-foot-4 star Ralph Sampson in Hawaii two years earlier. Events kept coming, with warm-weather locales getting in on the action. The Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cancun Challenge in Mexico. The Cayman Islands Classic. The Jamaica Classic. The Myrtle Beach Invitational joining the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Numerous tournaments in Florida. Some events have faded away like the Puerto Rico Tipoff and the Great Alaska Shootout, the latter in 2017 amid event competition and schools opting for warm-weather locales. Miller-Tooley’s push to build an MTE for Atlantis began as a December 2010 doubleheader with Georgia Tech beating Richmond and Virginia Tech beating Mississippi State in a prove-it moment for a tournament’s viability. It also required changing NCAA legislation to permit MTEs in the Bahamas. Approval came in March 2011; the first eight-team Atlantis men’s tournament followed in November. That tournament quickly earned marquee status with big-name fields, with Atlantis champions Villanova (2017) and Virginia (2018) later winning that season’s NCAA title. Games run in a ballroom-turned-arena at the resort, where players also check out massive swimming pools, water slides and inner-tube rapids surrounded by palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s just the value of getting your passport stamped, that will never get old,” Miller-Tooley said. “Watching some of these kids, this may be their first and last time — and staff and families — that they ever travel outside the United States. ... You can see through these kids’ eyes that it’s really an unbelievable experience.” ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock knows that firsthand. His Louisville team finished second at Atlantis in 2012 and won that year’s later-vacated NCAA title, with Hancock as the Final Four's most outstanding player. “I remember (then-coach Rick Pitino) saying something to the effect of: ‘Some of you guys might never get this opportunity again. We’re staying in this unbelievable place, you’re doing it with people you love,’” Hancock said. “It was a business trip for us there at Thanksgiving, but he definitely had a tone of ‘We’ve got to enjoy this as well.’” Maui offers similar vibes, though 2024 could be a little different as Lahaina recovers from deadly 2023 wildfires that forced the event's relocation last year. North Carolina assistant coach Sean May played for the Tar Heels’ Maui winner in 2004 and was part of UNC’s staff for the 2016 champion, with both teams later winning the NCAA title. May said “you just feel the peacefulness” of the area — even while focusing on games — and savors memories of the team taking a boat out on the Pacific Ocean after title runs under now-retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams. “Teams like us, Dukes, UConns – you want to go to places that are very well-run,” May said. “Maui, Lea Miller with her group at the Battle 4 Atlantis, that’s what drives teams to come back because you know you’re going to get standard A-quality of not only the preparation but the tournament with the way it’s run. Everything is top-notch. And I think that brings guys back year after year.” That’s why Colorado coach Tad Boyle is so excited for the Buffaloes’ first Maui appearance since 2009. “We’ve been trying to get in the tournament since I got here,” said Boyle, now in his 15th season. And of course, that warm-weather setting sure doesn’t hurt. “If you talk about the Marquettes of the world, St. John’s, Providence — they don’t want that cold weather,” said NBA and college TV analyst Terrence Oglesby, who played for Clemson in the 2007 San Juan Invitational in Puerto Rico. “They’re going to have to deal with that all January and February. You might as well get a taste of what the sun feels like.” The men’s Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, got things rolling last week with No. 11 Tennessee routing No. 13 Baylor for the title. The week ahead could boast matchups befitting the Final Four, with teams having two weeks of action since any opening-night hiccups. “It’s a special kickoff to the college basketball season,” Oglesby said. “It’s just without the rust.” On the women’s side, Atlantis began its fourth eight-team women’s tournament Saturday with No. 16 North Carolina and No. 18 Baylor, while the nearby Baha Mar resort follows with two four-team women’s brackets that include No. 2 UConn, No. 7 LSU, No. 17 Mississippi and No. 20 N.C. State. Then come the men’s headliners. The Maui Invitational turns 40 as it opens Monday back in Lahaina . It features second-ranked and two-time reigning national champion UConn , No. 4 Auburn , No. 5 Iowa State and No. 10 North Carolina. The Battle 4 Atlantis opens its 13th men’s tournament Wednesday, topped by No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 16 Indiana and No. 17 Arizona. Michigan State Hall of Famer Tom Izzo is making his fourth trip to Maui, where he debuted as Jud Heathcote’s successor at the 1995 tournament. Izzo's Spartans have twice competed at Atlantis, last in 2021 . “They’re important because they give you something in November or December that is exciting,” Izzo said. Any drawbacks? “It’s a 10-hour flight,” he said of Hawaii. AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Colorado and Larry Lage in Michigan contributed to this report. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Proteas qualify for World Test Championship final after thrilling win over PakistanMalaise within gated communitiesTel Aviv, Nov 25 (AP) Israel has said that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a "heinous antisemitic terror incident". The UAE's Interior Ministry later said authorities arrested three suspects involved in the killing of Zvi Kogan. Also Read | Mexico Mass Shooting: Gunmen Open Fire at Bar in Tabasco; 6 Killed, 5 Injured (Watch Videos). The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Sunday said that Israel "will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death". Israeli authorities did not say how they determined the killing of Kogan was a terror attack and offered no additional details. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords. Also Read | Sex Scandal Rocks Norway: Gynaecologist Rapes 87 Women Over 20 Years, Films Act; 6,000 Hours Of Video Evidence Recovered. The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the the UAE. Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack. The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment. However, senior Emirati diplomat Anwer Gargash wrote on the social platform X in Arabic on Sunday that "the UAE will remain a home of safety, an oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence and a beacon of development, pride and advancement". Early on Sunday, the UAE's state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan's disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being "missing and out of contact". "Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report," the Interior Ministry said. The ministry later said that three "perpetrators" had been arrested "in record time" without giving additional details. Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was "deeply shocked" by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened. Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for "their swift action". He said he trusts they "will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice". Israel also again warned against all nonessential travel to the Emirates after Kogan's killing. "There is concern that there is still a threat against Israelis and Jews in the area," a government warning issued Sunday said. Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners. The Rimon Market, a kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai's busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday. As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs on the front and back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday. Kogan's wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment. While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE. Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country. Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)