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Trump ups competition with Ron DeSantis in planning trip to Iowa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The competition between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis is intensifying as the former president is scheduling a return trip to Iowa on the same day that the Florida governor was already going to be in the state that will kick off the Republican contest for the White House.A Trump campaign official said Saturday that the former president plans to be in Iowa on May 13 to headline an organizing rally at a sprawling park in downtown Des Moines. That’s when DeSantis was already slated to headline Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra’s annual summer fundraiser in northwest Iowa and speak at a party fundraiser later that evening in Cedar Rapids.The Trump campaign official, who requested anonymity to discuss the trip before it was announced, said the Des Moines organizing rally has been in the planning stage for weeks and is aimed at identifying caucus supporters and volunteers.The move is a sign of the escalating competition between the two men who, at least for now, are leading ...

Fast facts: Learn more about Dolphins TE Elijah Higgins, Miami’s sixth-round draft pick

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

The Miami Dolphins selected Stanford wide receiver/tight end Elijah Higgins on Saturday with their sixth-round draft pick. Here’s what you need to know about Higgins, who was born in Florida and has extended family in the Tampa area:Elijah HigginsPos./round: Receiver, tight end/sixth (No. 197)School: StanfordYear: SeniorHt.: 6-3 Wt.: 235Hometown: Austin, Tx.Comment: Higgins is a guy who has position versatility between slot wide receiver and tight end, and in that way he could stir the creative juices of coach/offensive play-caller Mike McDaniel. …Higgins totaled 59 receptions for 704 yards and two touchdowns last season. …Higgins is a good route-runner and has good hands and toughness. …Higgins doesn’t have outstanding speed and doesn’t show a knack to separate from defenders as a wide receiver, which might be one reason he’s being shifted to tight end in the NFL. …He has good, but not great athletic ability as his 4.54-second 40-yard...

South Korea’s Yoon talks of nuclear threat at Harvard visit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivered a speech and took questions at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge on Friday where he spoke about the challenges facing his country including the threat of nuclear weapons from neighboring North Korea.Yoon pointed to a new plan he unveiled with President Joe Biden on Wednesday for intensified nuclear deterrence to counter any North Korean threat.“If we were to accept nuclear weapons by North Korea then South Korea may have to possess nuclear weapons,” Yoon said during a question-and-answer period after his speech at the Kennedy School. “This is not something we want to see happen.”Yoon went on to say that if North Korea were to use nuclear weapons “the result is quite obvious.”“As long as North Korea recognizes nuclear weapons as a means of survival we have to make sure to deter the usage of such weapons so that the Republic of Korea, our neighboring countries and the entire global community can be protected,” he said ...

Dolphins take college WR who will play TE with sixth-round pick in NFL draft

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

On Day 3 of the NFL draft, the Miami Dolphins finally selected a tight end — sort of.The long wait for the Dolphins’ first pick Saturday finally concluded when the team took Stanford pass-catcher Elijah Higgins with their sixth-round selection, pick No. 197, which was 113 picks after their previous draftee.Higgins (6 foot 3, 235 pounds) was a big college receiver at Stanford, but he has the size to translate as a tight end in the NFL. And the Dolphins plan to use him that way.Higgins said he mostly communicated with Miami tight ends coach Jon Embree in the pre-draft process. He said it will be a transition after primarily playing as a slot receiver in college.In 2022, Higgins had 59 receptions for 704 yards and two touchdowns after becoming a focal point in the Cardinal offense as a junior in 2021 when he made 45 catches for 500 yards and four touchdowns.Higgins is touted for his crisp route-running as a big, possession slot receiver who has better blocking capabilities ...

Knicks Notebook: Old Miami rivalry is lost on current players

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

The nostalgia is in overdrive with the Heat-Knicks series, but the players aren’t getting caught up in the old rivalry for a simple reason:They don’t know anything about it.The last important playoff series between New York and Miami occurred in 2000, when most current Knicks were either in diapers or prospective humans.“Most of our guys weren’t even born yet,” Josh Hart, who, at 28 years old, is the second-oldest player in the Knicks rotation. “For us, those are the war stories of the past. They’re cool to hear, they’re cool to see highlights of it. But we’ve got our own path and our own vibe going.”RJ Barrett, 22, only knows one moment from the Knicks-Heat rivalry, and that’s probably because it’s shown repeatedly on the MSG jumbotron.“I know Allan Houston hit a shot,” Barrett said. “That’s about it.”Obi Toppin, who grew up a Knick fan in Brooklyn, said he once received a Latrell ...

NFL Draft 2023: Patriots select new punter in Michigan State’s Byrce Baringer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

On Saturday, the Patriots became the first team since 2000 to select a kicker and a punter in the same draft.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | NFL Draft 2023: Patriots draft electric LSU WR Kayshon Boutte in 6th round New England Patriots | NFL Draft 2023: Patriots add powerful UCLA O-lineman on Day 3 New England Patriots | NFL Draft 2023: Patriots add Eastern Michigan OL Sidy Sow in 4th round New England Patriots | NFL Draft 2023: Patriots select small-school O-lineman in fourth round New England Patriots | Bill Belichick ‘absolutely’ feels good about Patriots QB Mac Jones In the fourth round, they drafted Maryland kicker Chad Ryland. Hours later, they added Michigan State’s Bryce Baringer.Baringer became the first punter off the board when the Patriots took him with the 192nd overall pick in the sixth round. He boasts one of the strongest legs across both specialist groups and av...

Telegram app back on in Brazil after judge lifts suspension

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — The Telegram messaging app was up and running in Brazil on Saturday after a federal judge revised an earlier ruling suspending it over the company’s failure to hand over data on neo-Nazi activity.But in lifting the suspension, the judge kept in place a daily fine of $1 million reais (about $200,000) for Telegram’s refusal to provide the data, according to a press statement provided by the federal court that issued the ruling.Complete suspension “is not reasonable, considering the wide affectation throughout the national territory of the freedom of communication of thousands of people who are absolutely strangers to the facts under investigation,” judge Flávio Lucas was quoted as saying in the statement. Telegram had been temporarily suspended in the context of a police inquiry into school shootings in November, when a former student armed with a semiautomatic pistol and wearing a bulletproof vest fatally shot three people and wounded 13 after barg...

Arkansas woman indicted in $11,000 sale of stolen body parts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she sold 20 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to a Pennsylvania man for nearly $11,000.The April 5 indictment, unsealed Friday in federal court in Little Rock, accuses Candace Chapman Scott, 36, a former mortuary worker, of setting up the transactions with a man she met through a Facebook group about “oddities.” Scott, a Little Rock resident, pleaded not guilty to 12 counts, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, and interstate transportation of stolen property.Scott is jailed, with a hearing on whether she will be released on bail scheduled for Tuesday. A lawyer for Scott did not immediately answer an email seeking comment on Saturday.The buyer is not identified in the federal indictment, but separate state charges in Pennsylvania name him as Jeremy Lee ...

Texas border city struggles with large arrival of migrants

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Shelters in a Texas city struggled to find space Saturday for migrants who authorities say have abruptly begun crossing by the thousands from Mexico, testing a stretch of the U.S. border that is typically equipped to handle large groups of people fleeing poverty and violence. The pace of arrivals in Brownsville appeared to catch the city on the southernmost tip of Texas off guard, stretching social services and putting an overnight shelter in an uncommon position of turning people away. Officials say more than 15,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have illegally crossed the river near Brownsville since last week.That is a sharp rise from the 1,700 migrants that Border Patrol agents encountered in the first two weeks of April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. “It’s a quite concerning because the logistical challenge that we encounter is massive for us,” said Gloria Chavez, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector.T...

Details revealed about King Charles III’s coronation service

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:26 GMT

LONDON (AP) — It will be a coronation of many faiths and many languages.King Charles III, keen to show that he can be a unifying figure for everyone in the United Kingdom, will be crowned in a ceremony that will for the first time include the active participation of faiths other than the Church of England.Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders will take part in various aspects of the coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office said Saturday, as it revealed details of a service it described as an act of Christian worship that will reflect contemporary society.The ceremony also will include female bishops for the first time, as well as hymns and prayers sung in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic, as well as English.“The service contains new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society,’’ Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Church of England, said in a statement. “It is my prayer that all who share in this service, whether they are o...