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Harvard sued US President Donald Trump’s administration Monday in a sharp escalation of the fight between the prestigious university and the Republican, who has threatened its funding and sought to impose outside political supervision.Trump has sought to bring several prestigious universities to heel over claims they tolerated campus anti-Semitism, threatening their budgets, tax-exempt status and the enrolment of foreign students, but Harvard has refused to bow.”This case involves the Government’s efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard,” the Ivy League university said in a lawsuit filed in a Massachusetts federal court that named several other institutions targeted by Trump.”The Government’s actions flout not just the First Amendment, but also federal laws and regulations,” said the complaint, which called Trump’s actions “arbitrary and capricious.”Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting government supervision of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant and last week ordered the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding to the storied institution.The lawsuit calls for the freezing of funds and conditions imposed on federal grants to be declared unlawful, as well as for the Trump administration to pay Harvard’s costs.Trump and his White House team have publicly justified their campaign against universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled “anti-Semitism” and a need to reverse diversity programs aimed at addressing historical oppression of minorities.The administration claims protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that swept across US college campuses last year were rife with anti-Semitism.Many US universities, including Harvard, cracked down on the protests over the allegations at the time, with the Cambridge-based institution placing 23 students on probation and denying degrees to 12 others, according to protest organizers.”Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform last week.”Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”- ‘Sweeping freeze’ -Harvard President Alan Garber said that Trump’s administration had launched “numerous investigations” into the university’s operations. Last week, Garber flatly refused to “negotiate over (Harvard’s) independence or its constitutional rights.”Other top institutions, including Columbia University, have bowed to less sweeping demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing.The Department of Homeland Security has also threatened Harvard’s ability to enroll international students unless it turns over records on visa-holders’ “illegal and violent activities.” International students made up 27.2 percent of Harvard’s enrollment this academic year, according to its website.”Make no mistake: Harvard rejects anti-Semitism and discrimination in all of its forms and is actively making structural reforms to eradicate anti-Semitism on campus,” said Monday’s lawsuit.”But rather than engage with Harvard regarding those ongoing efforts, the Government announced a sweeping freeze of funding for medical, scientific, technological, and other research that has nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism.”Trump’s claims about diversity tap into long-standing conservative complaints that US university campuses are too liberal, shutting out right-wing voices and favoring minorities.In the case of Harvard, the White House is seeking unprecedented levels of government control over the inner workings of the country’s oldest and wealthiest university — and one of the most respected educational and research institutions in the world.

Pope Francis died of a stroke, the Vatican announced hours after the death on Monday of the 88-year-old reformer who inspired devotion but riled traditionalists during 12 years leading the Catholic Church.The Argentine pontiff died at his Santa Marta residence in the Vatican almost a month after leaving hospital following five weeks battling double pneumonia.One day after he greeted Easter crowds in St Peter’s Square, mourners gathered in the plaza, many in tears, to mark his passing.”He’s actually returned to the Lord — and godspeed,” Italian Cesarina Cireddu told AFP.World leaders from US President Donald Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the pope’s moral and spiritual leadership. Prayers were held around the world and Trump was among the first leaders to announce that they would attend the pope’s funeral.Trump — who drew the ire of Francis with his mass deportations of migrants — wrote “Rest in Peace” in a social media post and ordered flags to be flown at half mast.”We are orphaned,” said street sweeper Javier Languenari, 53, in the pope’s home city of Buenos Aires, as Argentina declared a week of national mourning.According to the death certificate released by the Vatican, Francis died of a stroke, causing a coma and “irreversible” heart failure.It also revealed he had Type 2 diabetes, which was not previously known.The pope had seemed exhausted when being driven around St Peter’s Square on Sunday and a Vatican source said the pontiff had kept up a punishing schedule even though he knew his health was fading.In his will, also released by the Vatican, the pope wrote that he felt that “the sunset of my earthly life is approaching”.Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican official known as the Camerlengo and who now takes over the immediate running of church affairs, announced Francis’s death.”This morning at 7:35 am (0535 GMT) the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church,” Farrell said.The pope’s apartment was formally sealed and his body moved to a wood and zinc coffin in the Santa Marta chapel on Monday evening, the Vatican said. The coffin will be moved to St Peter’s Basilica, probably on Wednesday, to lie in state.Cardinals will meet on Tuesday to start planning the funeral at St Peter’s Basilica, which must take place between four and six days after the death — between Friday and Sunday.Francis had already announced he would be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In his will, he said he wanted a simple, unadorned tomb “with the only inscription: Franciscus”, Francis in Latin.The cardinals will also start preparing the conclave, where cardinals under the age of 80 will meet within three weeks to decide who will become Francis’s successor.- ‘Terrible shock’ -Thousands went to St Peter’s Square, where a death knell rang out for the pope’s passing and rosary prayers were said.Caroline Wahl, visiting from Germany, said the pope had looked “weak” when they saw him on Easter Sunday, adding that thinking about him now gave her “goosebumps”.Bells tolled at cathedrals and churches around the world.In Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, the Christian community feels “as though a light of love and peace has been extinguished”, said George Ayad, 67.In Kinshasa, Madeleine Bomendje struggled to accept the news: “It’s a terrible shock,” she said.The lights of the Eiffel tower in Paris were turned off on Monday night, while the Colosseum in Rome was to go dark on Tuesday.- ‘Beacon of compassion’ -Francis, born Jorge Bergoglio, was the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic world and the first from the Americas.He took over from Benedict XVI — the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to step down — and cut a sharply different figure from the German theologian.A football-loving former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis sought to forge a more open and compassionate Church.Throughout his papacy, he championed the poor, campaigned for action against climate change and emphasised love over doctrine, famously saying of gay believers, “who am I to judge”.His views riled Church traditionalists, while his outspoken opinions often clashed with those of politicians.Argentina’s President Javier Milei — who had before taking office accused Francis of being an “imbecile” who “promotes communism” pointed to his compatriot’s “goodness and wisdom” despite their “differences”.Argentine football great Lionel Messi thanked Francis for “making the world a better place” as the late pontiff’s favourite club, San Lorenzo, paid tribute to “a thoughtful, open-minded, cultured man”.- Health issues -Francis, who had part of his lung removed as a young man, almost died twice while in hospital — but still defied doctor’s orders to take two months off after returning home.Known for being stubborn, he made several public appearances, including meeting Britain’s King Charles and visiting a prison.But he struggled to speak, and delegated the traditional Easter Sunday “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) benediction to an associate.His hospital stay was the last of a series of health issues, from colon and hernia surgery to problems walking, which saw him take to a wheelchair in recent years.But he never took a day off and made frequent trips abroad, including a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour last September which drew huge crowds.- Church reforms -When Francis took over, the Catholic Church was beset by infighting, and plagued by a global scandal over cover-ups of clerical sex abuse of children.Francis initiated a major shake-up of the Vatican’s governing body that included improving financial responsibility and allowing lay Catholics to lead Vatican offices.However, critics accused him of creating doctrinal confusion and failing to defend traditional Catholic beliefs on key issues such as abortion and divorce. On abuse, he promised an end to impunity and changed Vatican law, but victims’ groups said his actions fell short of the “zero-tolerance” he promised.”In this realm, where Francis had supreme power, he refused to make the necessary changes,” said Anne Barrett Doyle from BishopAccountability.org, complaining of a lack of external oversight and transparency. “It will forever tarnish the legacy of this remarkable man.”

Haiti, where rampant gang violence has surged in recent weeks, is approaching a “point of no return” leading to “total chaos,” the UN special representative to the troubled Caribbean nation warned Monday.”As gang violence continues to spread to new areas of the country, Haitians experience growing levels of vulnerability and increasing skepticism about the ability of the state to respond to their needs,” Maria Isabel Salvador told the UN Security Council. “Haiti could face total chaos,” she said, adding that international aid was desperately needed to avoid that fate. “I urge you to remain engaged and answer the urgent needs of the country and its people.” Salvador cited cholera outbreaks and gender-based violence alongside a deteriorating security situation, particularly in the capital Port-au-Prince, with authorities struggling to cope. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti faces severe political instability, while swaths of the country are under the control of rival armed gangs who carry out widespread murders, rapes and kidnappings.The armed groups have been battling for control of Port-au-Prince and clashes have intensified as the rival gangs attempt to establish new territories.A Kenyan-led force authorized by the United Nations has failed to push back the gangs. The mission has around 1,000 police officers from six countries but was intended to have 2,500.In a report seen by AFP, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that further international support was “required immediately to allow the national police to prevent the capital slipping closer to the brink.”Haiti’s ambassador to the UN, Ericq Pierre, said his country was “slowly dying.””The Republic of Haiti is slowly dying under the combined action of armed gangs, drug traffickers and arms dealers,” he said, calling on his partners to “help rid the country of the gangs that are terrorizing the population.”The report detailed the upsurge in violence, with the UN recording 2,660 homicides in the three months from December 2024 — a 41.3 percent increase over the previous quarter.Anti-gang operations resulted in 702 people killed in that time, of which 21 percent were estimated to be innocent civilians, the report said.Gender-based violence also recorded an alarming increase, with 347 incidents reported in the five months to February 2025, according to UN data.Collective rape was the most common violation, accounting for 61 percent of cases. 

Gold prices hit a fresh record on Monday while the dollar tumbled further along with Wall Street equities as President Donald Trump again slammed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.US equities had opened the session lower, but stumbled further shortly after the opening bell when Trump called Powell a “major loser” for not cutting interest rates in a social media post, underscoring questions about whether Trump will attempt to fire Powell after threatening the action last week.Worries about such a move gyrated through US markets on a day when many global markets were still closed for the Easter holiday.All three major equity indices finished down by around 2.5 percent while the US dollar retreated and Treasury bond yields moved higher. Gold prices soared to a fresh record above $3,400.There is a “narrative of weakening demand for US assets,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Trump’s continued banter about removing or replacing Powell throws into question the independence of the US central bank in which the Fed is free from political interference as it sets monetary policy based on the imperatives of ensuring stable prices and achieving maximum employment.Investors view this tradition as foundational to American markets.Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Cresset Capital Management, said a move to replace Powell with an appointee who would follow Trump’s demands would bring a “crisis of confidence.”Analysts also pointed to weakness in influential technology names such as Nvidia, Google parent Alphabet and Apple as another factor in the selling, along with trade tensions.Several nations have moved to cut a deal with Washington to stem the worst of the White House’s levies, with Japan the highest-profile economy, while US Vice President JD Vance arrived in India on Monday for talks.However, China warned governments on Monday not to seek an agreement that compromised Beijing’s interests.While the rest of the world has been slapped with a blanket 10 percent tariff, China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products. Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.Stocks had a mixed start to the week, with Tokyo weighed by the stronger yen while Taipei, Jakarta and Bangkok were also in negative territory. Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai and Manila rose.Oil prices dropped on demand fears as worries about the global economy swirl.Traders are keeping tabs on the release of key April manufacturing data around the world this week, hoping for an idea about the early impact of Trump’s tariffs.”One thing that’s absolutely clear — and no longer debatable — is that the reputational hit to the US brand is real, and it’s not fading quietly into the next news cycle,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”It’s sticking. Investors, allies, and even central banks are starting to bake in the idea that American policymaking, both fiscal and monetary, is now a geopolitical variable — not a given,” he added.- Key figures at 2045  GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 2.5 percent at 38,170.41 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 2.4 percent at 5,158.20 (close)New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 2.6 percent at 15,870.91 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.3 percent at 34,279.92 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,291.43 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1510 from $1.1393 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP $1.3377 at $1.3296Dollar/yen: DOWN at 140.89 yen from 142.18 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.03 pence from 85.70 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.5 percent at $63.08 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.5 percent at $66.16 per barrelLondon – FTSE 100: Closed for a holidayNew York – Dow: Closed for a holiday

The death of Pope Francis silences arguably the most powerful moral voice on the world stage critical of Donald Trump, with the pontiff taking the lead against the US president’s mass deportations of migrants.When Trump first ran for president in 2016, Francis was unsparing on Trump’s signature promise to build a wall to seal off Mexico, telling reporters, “Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian.”Trump fired back that the pope was “disgraceful.” After Trump’s stunning election win, most world leaders either embraced or found ways to accommodate him, but the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics refused to hold back.In a letter to US bishops in February, Francis called Trump’s deportation plans a “calamity” and pleaded for “the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized.”Top Trump aide Tom Homan responded that the pope should “stick to the Catholic Church and fix that” rather than deal with the border.”You cannot imagine two more different world leaders than Trump and Francis, in literally every way — ego versus humility, a focus on the poor versus a focus on power, walls not bridges,” said John Carr, founder of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.”And it shows in the tepid response of the White House to his death.”Trump ordered flags at half-staff and, at an Easter egg hunt for children Monday, called Francis “a good man” who “worked hard and loved the world.”Vice President JD Vance, who had met the ailing pontiff hours before his death at the Vatican on Easter, said his “heart goes out” to Christians.The reactions were notably less expansive than those of many other world leaders, who paid tribute to the late pope over his values.But they also showed that flagrant disrespect to the pope would be a step too far even for Trump, who rarely holds back at belittling world leaders who cross him.- Different Catholic visions -Catholics form the largest single religious denomination in the United States and Trump won them by up to 20 points in 2024, according to different surveys, a shift in support that helped him carry the election.But Catholics, earlier a major base for the rival Democratic Party, retain plenty of ideological diversity within their ranks.Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden is a fervent Catholic who forged a close bond with the pope. He mourned Francis as among “the most consequential leaders of our time.”Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also devoutly Catholic but previously criticized Francis, the first Latin American pope, for mediating to normalize US relations with communist Cuba.Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, drawn by traditional views on societal virtue and gender-specific family roles.Vance would write that reading St. Augustine’s fifth-century AD descriptions of a society based on pleasure over duty were “the best criticism of our modern age I’ve ever read.”After becoming vice president, Vance justified the cancellation of nearly all US foreign assistance by quoting 12th-century theologian Thomas Aquinas’s concept of “ordo amoris,” or “order of love,” saying it was Christian to put family first.Francis, in a letter soon afterward to US bishops, said that “true ordo amoris” involved building “a fraternity open to all, without exception.”Carr said it was “extraordinary” for the pope himself to “correct a politician that specifically.””Beyond religious freedom and basic freedoms and democracy, probably the thing Pope Francis most admired about our country is our generosity toward poor people and suffering people around the world, and that literally has been sabotaged,” Carr said.- De-emphasizing culture war -Francis had sharp differences with Democrats including Biden, notably over their support for legal abortion.But Julie Ingersoll, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, said Francis also “softened the Church’s stance on the so-called culture-war issues” such as LGBTQ rights — the polar opposite of Trump’s galvanizing approach. Carr said that the pope’s criticism ultimately had little impact on Trump, who prioritizes transactional deal-making.”There’s the famous line — how many troops does the pope have? Trump’s version of that would be — how many votes does the pope have?”

A delegation of Democratic lawmakers arrived in El Salvador on Monday in a new push to secure the release of a wrongly deported US resident at the center of a mounting political row.Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent back to his country and remains imprisoned despite the Supreme Court ordering the administration of President Donald Trump to facilitate the man’s return to the United States.”I’m in El Salvador to shine a light on Kilmar’s story and keep the pressure on Donald Trump to secure his safe return home,” congresswoman Yassamin Ansari of Arizona said on social media.”We want to make sure that Kilmar is still alive. We want to make sure that he has access to counsel,” added Ansari, who was accompanied by fellow US House Democrats Robert Garcia, Maxwell Frost and Maxine Dexter.”Trump is illegally arresting, jailing, and deporting people with no due process,” Frost wrote on X.”We must hold the Administration accountable for these illegal acts and demand Kilmar’s release. Today it’s him, tomorrow it could be anyone else,” the Florida representative added.The visit comes days after Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen managed to meet with Abrego Garcia, though only after a considerable effort.Van Hollen, who represents Maryland where Abrego Garcia and his family have lived for years, accused the Central American nation of staging a photo of him supposedly sipping margaritas with Abrego Garcia.Trump’s administration has paid El Salvador President Nayib Bukele millions of dollars to lock up nearly 300 migrants it says are criminals and gang members — including Abrego Garcia.The 29-year-old was detained in Maryland last month and expelled to El Salvador along with 238 Venezuelans and 22 fellow Salvadorans who were deported shortly after Trump invoked a rarely used wartime authority.The Trump administration admitted that Abrego Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error,” and the Supreme Court ruled that the government must “facilitate” his return.But Trump has since doubled down, insisting Abrego Garcia is in fact a gang member.Bukele, who was hosted at the White House last week, said he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia.The migrant’s supporters note he had protected legal status and no criminal conviction in the United States.”My parents fled an authoritarian regime in Iran where people were ‘disappeared’ — I refuse to sit back and watch it happen here,” Ansari said in a statement.”What happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not just one family’s nightmare — it is a constitutional crisis that should outrage every single one of us,” said Dexter, a congresswoman from Oregon.Abrego Garcia told Van Hollen that he was initially imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega-prison for gang members, but was later transferred to a jail in the western department of Santa Ana.

There was emotion across the United States following the death of Pope Francis, with many mourners contrasting the Argentine pontiff’s gentle touch with the harshness of the current US administration.At New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, hundreds of Catholics gathered in mourning, including worshipper Peter who said “we lost a very good man” whose values were entirely at odds with those of President Donald Trump. Francis “cared about (people) most of us forget about — the poor, the downtrodden, the forgotten, and the healing power of forgiveness,” said the 70-year-old, who did not provide his last name, as Catholics and tourists flocked into the imposing Gothic Cathedral opened in 1879.”We have a president and an administration that’s turning the country in a direction that is in complete contradiction of the values that this pope espoused.”A bust of Francis stood by a side entrance, while a portrait of the late pontiff was on display nearby.Daphne, Peter’s spouse, said Francis’s “focus was on the poor and the needy — but also with immigrants.””Our country right now is forgetting that it was built on immigrants, and that is very hurtful to us as a population,” she said.New Yorker Cathy Colecchi wept openly, describing Francis as “the pope for everyone,” and praising his “inclusivity.””I really haven’t attended a mass for a very, very long time. I surprisingly find myself today, very, very sad,” she said.- ‘A shock’ -Reflecting the staunchly Democratic leaning of New York City, local resident Mark Carey said “it was very strange that (US Vice President JD) Vance spoke to him and saw him yesterday, considering their conflict of issues.”Vance was one of the last visitors to the Vatican to see Francis alive, receiving a short audience with the pope before he delivered his Easter greetings to a crowd of more than 35,000 Sunday.”Hopefully he was able to enlighten Vance,” said Carey.In the nation’s capital, well-wishers gathered outside the National Cathedral of Washington to mark the passing of Francis.”He was much more Christian than… for example, the people who are in office now who claim to be Christian, especially our president, whose name I will not say,” said 71-year-old retiree Mark Smerkanich. Some of those moved to gather following the death expressed surprise at the suddenness of the news.”(A) total surprise, right? And some shock and also sorrow. We just saw Pope Francis on our TV screens yesterday,” said Father Aquinas Guilbeau, a university chaplain at The Catholic University of America.”News of his passing so soon after seeing him in public, it is a bit of a surprise and a shock,” he added, wearing a plain cassock in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.Outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Miami, Pamela Garcia, who works for a printing company, said that she had “been praying for him to heal” as his health worsened.”But the Lord called him home and the greatest thing is that he waited until Resurrection (Sunday),” she said.Hilda Palermo, a freelancer, said that she wanted the next pope to be “very traditional.” “I think we need people with values, to maintain the family — and I hope he’ll be a person close to God.”burs-gw/des

It’s not a scene out of the future, but a reality on the hard courts of today.Using artificial intelligence, a top basketball team found the right defensive strategy that made the difference to win the NBA championship.Data specialist Rajiv Maheswaran declines to name the outfit that leveraged AI analysis to victory, saying in a corporate video only that it happened several years ago.That was “the moment that sealed it,” added the co-founder of tech startup Second Spectrum, which provides the league with swathes of player positioning data gathered during crucial games.Analytics have transformed the NBA over the past decade, with AI and other breakthroughs still ramping up.Embryonic in the early 2000s, the revolution truly took hold with motion-capture cameras installed in every venue in 2013.Ten years later, new tech upgraded renderings of the court from 2D to 3D, unlocking even more precious data.Cameras track 29 points for each player “so you know not just where they are, but you know where their elbow is, and you know where their knee is,” said Ben Alamar, a sports analytics writer and consultant.”You’re actually able to see, yes, that was a high quality (defensive) closeout,” said Tom Ryan, head of Basketball Research and Development at the NBA, describing an often-used manouvre. “It’s adding more context to that metric.””Now all 30 teams are doing significant analysis with varying levels of success,” said Alamar.Houston, Golden State and Oklahoma City were often cited among early adopters at the turn of the 2010s.This season, Oklahoma City is on top of regular season standings, “and they play different,” said ESPN Analytics Group founder Dean Oliver. “They force turnovers, and they have very few turnovers themselves. So there are definitely advantages to be gained.””It’s not going to turn a 25-win team into a 70-win team during the season, but it can turn a 50-win team into a 55, 56-win team,” according to Alamar.AI allows for “strategic insights” like “understanding matchups, finding the situations where players perform well, what combinations of players,” he added.- ‘Optimizing shots’ -None of the dozen teams contacted by AFP agreed to discuss their work on analytics.”Teams are (understandably) secretive,” Oliver confirmed.Even before 3D, motion capture data was already shifting the game, taking basketball from a more controlled pace to something looser and faster, he added.The data showed that faster play secures more open looks and a higher percentage of shots — a development that some criticize.On average, three-point shot attempts have doubled over the last 15 years.”As a league now, we look deep into analytics,” Milwaukee point guard Damian Lillard noted at February’s All-Star Game. While it perhaps “takes away the originality of the game… you’ve got to get in line with what’s working to win.”The league is taking the issue seriously enough that Commissioner Adam Silver recently mentioned that “some adjustments” could be made to address it.Even now, AI has “plenty of upside” yet to emerge, said Oliver. “The data is massive, but converting that into information, into knowledge that can be conveyed to players, that they can absorb, all of those steps are yet to be done.”- ‘Get calls right’ -The league itself is pursuing several analytics and AI projects, including for real-time refereeing.”The ROI (return on investment) is very clear,” said Ryan. “It’s about getting more calls right, faster and in a transparent way to our fans.””We would love a world where if a ball goes out of bounds and you’re not sure who it went off of, rather than going to replay you look at high frame rate video in real time with 99.9 percent accuracy… That’s really our North Star.”Spatial data can also extend the fan experience, shown off during the recent “Dunk the Halls” Christmas game between San Antonio and New York. An alternative telecast rendered the game in video game-style real-time display, with avatars replacing live action images.”We want to experiment with all different types of immersive media,” says Ryan. “We just want to be able to sell our game and present it in compelling ways.”

President Donald Trump stood behind his controversial Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth Monday despite a new scandal over his reported use of messaging app Signal to discuss US strikes on Yemen with his wife and others.”He’s doing a great job,” Trump said, dismissing the reports as “just fake news.”US media reported that Hegseth used Signal to talk about the air strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels with people not usually involved in such discussions, just weeks after it emerged that he also shared details about the strikes in another Signal chat to which a journalist had been inadvertently added.The scandals and reports of turmoil inside the Pentagon are a blow to the newly minted defense secretary, a former Fox News co-host nominated by Trump despite having no high-level military experience and no background in running large organizations.However, Hegseth was defiant, blaming the media.”This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” Hegseth said at the White House, adding: “Not going to work with me.”Multiple Democratic lawmakers have said it is time for Hegseth to go.”He’s a walking national security disaster and needs to resign or be fired,” said Representative Jim McGovern.Senators Mark Warner, Andy Kim and Elissa Slotkin all called for Hegseth to quit, with the latter saying: “If he cared about the institution he’s leading, he should man up, acknowledge he’s a distraction to the military’s mission, and resign.”Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin also weighed in, calling the Pentagon chief a “disgrace” and saying it is “well past time for Hegseth to resign — or for Donald Trump to fire him.”- ‘Total chaos’ -After NPR radio reported that the White House had begun looking for a new defense chief, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt posted on X that this was “total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about.”Last month, The Atlantic magazine revealed that its editor-in-chief was mistakenly included in a Signal chat in which officials including Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz discussed the March 15 Yemen strikes.The revelation sparked an uproar, with Trump’s administration forced on the defensive over the leak. A Pentagon inspector general’s probe into Hegseth’s use of Signal is ongoing.The New York Times and CNN then reported Sunday that Hegseth had shared information on the same strikes in a second Signal group chat.The details shared included the flight schedules for warplanes targeting the Huthis, the Times reported.The chat included his wife Jennifer, who is a journalist and former Fox News producer, as well as his brother Phil and lawyer Tim Parlatore, both of whom serve in roles at the Pentagon, the newspaper and the channel said, citing anonymous sources.The reported release of military information in the chat follows upheaval at the top of the Pentagon, with three senior officials removed last week amid an investigation into alleged leaks.Former senior advisors Darin Selnick, Dan Caldwell and Colin Carroll hit back on Sunday, saying Pentagon officials had “slandered our character with baseless attacks.””We still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with,” they said in a joint statement posted on social media.Hegseth’s former Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot also took aim at him in a scathing opinion piece on Sunday that described “a month of total chaos at the Pentagon.””President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,” wrote Ullyot.

The racist gunman who killed 23 people at a crowded supermarket near the Mexico border was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday after admitting capital murder in one of the deadliest shootings in US history.Patrick Crusius, who struck at a Walmart in the majority-Hispanic Texas city of El Paso in 2019, pleaded guilty at a state court as part of a deal that enabled him to avoid the death penalty.The 26-year-old white supremacist was already serving 90 consecutive life terms over hate crimes convictions handed down last year in federal court. Clad in a bulletproof vest, Crusius stared straight ahead as the El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya named his victims.”You came to inflict terror, to take innocent lives, and to shatter a community that had done nothing but stand for kindness, unity and love,” District Judge Sam Medrano told him.”You slaughtered fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.”Crusius drove 660 miles (1,060 kilometers) from Allen, Texas, near Dallas to the Walmart Supercenter in El Paso with an AK-47-style assault rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.He opened fire on people in the supermarket parking lot, killing 23 and wounding 22.He had uploaded a document to the internet entitled “The Inconvenient Truth” in which he said the attack was “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He said he was “defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement,” referring to a far right conspiracy theory that other ethnic groups are “replacing” white Americans.When police showed up Crusius got out of his car and identified himself as the shooter. While in custody he told police he wanted to kill “Mexicans.”The massacre — which took place during Donald Trump’s first term — ignited a debate on how president’s repeated criticism of immigrants influenced the behavior of people who supported him.At his July 2024 federal sentencing, then-assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke described the shooting as “one of the most horrific acts of white nationalist-driven violence in modern times.”It came two years after a gunman killed 58 people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas and three years after a man murdered 49 at an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida.