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Bridge: June 17, 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns treat basic technique and logical thinking.As declarer, you see dummy’s assets, but a defender can’t see his partner’s hand. To overcome that handicap, defenders use signals such as “attitude”: whether they want a suit led or continued. In simple methods, signal with a high card to encourage, a low card to discourage or offer no opinion.Today’s West led the king of diamonds against four spades, and East played the eight. That card looked pretty high to West; he continued with the ace.CLUB WINNERSouth ruffed, led a club to dummy’s king, drew trumps and led a second club. He set up a club winner in dummy for a heart discard and lost only one heart. Making four.I’ve heard players say a seven or higher is a “high” signal, a six or lower is “low.” That is nonsense. Consider partner’s signal in context. Here, West can see that East’s eight was his lowest diamond, disco...

FBI detiene a un joven de 19 años sospechoso de proferir amenazas antisemitas y planear actos violentos contra la comunidad judía de Michigan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

(CNN) — Un joven de 19 años de Pickford, Michigan, fue detenido por el FBI el viernes por presuntas amenazas antisemitas en Instagram.Seann Pietila fue acusado en una denuncia penal de “transmitir una comunicación que contenía una amenaza de lesionar a otro”, anunció el viernes el fiscal de EE.UU. Mark Totten en un comunicado de prensa.“Las amenazas antisemitas y la violencia contra nuestras comunidades judías —o cualquier otro grupo— no serán toleradas en el Distrito Oeste de Michigan”, dijo Totten.¿Qué es el antisemitismo? Historia y actualidadSegún una declaración jurada de causa probable, Pietila mantuvo conversaciones con otro usuario de Instagram sobre la realización de un siniestro o asesinato en masa. Pietila dijo a los investigadores que no planeaba llevar a cabo los asesinatos en masa que discutió, dice la declaración jurada.Los investigadores encontraron el nombre de una sinagoga de East Lansing, una fecha y una lista de armas —incluidas bomb...

Wembanyama, countrymen at French flair to international class of NBA draft prospects

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Victor Wembanyama wasn’t the only young French prospect turning heads overseas.Granted, fans would have had to look much farther to find Rayan Rupert, who played for the New Zealand Breakers. He is among the international prospects expecting to hear their names called at the NBA draft on Thursday in New York. They don’t possess Wembanyama’s size and skills but they’re confident they can make an impact.There’s a distinct French flavor in this year’s draft class. Wembanyama and Rupert are French, as is Bilal Coulibaly, Wembanyama’s teammate with Metropolitans 92.Here’s a look at some of the top international prospects other than Wembanyama:RAYAN RUPERT, NEW ZEALAND BREAKERSSTRENGTHS: Rupert is a tenacious defender with a 7-foot-2 wingspan who likens his game to Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets. Standing 6-6 without shoes, the 193-pound swingman was part of the National Basketball League’s Next Stars program and just turned 19. H...

El rey Carlos III cabalga en su primer desfile oficial por su cumpleaños

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

(CNN) — Carlos III revive este sábado una tradición real al participe a caballo en el primer Trooping the Colour de su reinado, que marca el cumpleaños oficial del soberano británico.Este tradicional espectáculo militar es uno de los actos principales de la agenda real y atrae a grandes multitudes al centro de Londres. El verdadero cumpleaños de Carlos es en noviembre y suele celebrarse en privado.El rey se une a 1.500 soldados, 300 caballos y cientos de músicos que desfilarán desde el Palacio de Buckingham hasta Horse Guards Parade, en St James’s Park, para asistir a la ceremonia, presenciada por los miembros de la familia real.¿Por qué el rey Carlos III celebra dos cumpleaños? El origen del desfile Trooping the ColourEs la primera vez que un monarca reinante participa en la procesión desde que lo hiciera la reina Isabel II en 1986.Le acompañan a caballo los coroneles reales, entre ellos el príncipe Guillermo, que es coronel de la Guardia Galesa, y la princesa Ana, Bast...

Italy puts brakes on Pirelli’s Chinese shareholder

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

The Italian government has limited the powers of China’s Sinochem as a shareholder of tire maker Pirelli on national security grounds.Rome deemed the sensors that are installed in tires made by Pirelli as a “critical technology of national strategic importance” and imposed measures including restrictions to the access of strategic information and higher vote thresholds (four-fifths of the company’s board) to take strategic decisions, the government said in a statement Friday evening. The new vote threshold would prevent Sinochem from designating the chief executive officer of Pirelli despite being the company’s majority shareholder. Restrictions “are intended to create a network of measures that protect: the autonomy of Pirelli & C. S.p.A and its management; the security of procedures; the protection of information of strategic importance; and the know-how possessed by the company,” the government in Rome said. The decision has been take...

Boris Johnson breached government rules with Daily Mail gig, watchdog says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson breached the U.K.’s ministerial code by accepting a columnist job for the Daily Mail without waiting for the opinion of the committee in charge of assessing former officials’ new positions.The U.K.’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) said that Johnson was in “clear breach”of government rules outlined in a so-called “ministerial code” as he didn’t wait for the committee’s decision before accepting the new job.“The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice,” ACOBA said in a statement reported by the BBC and other media. “An application received 30 minutes before an appointment is announced is a clear breach,” ACOBA said.In his first column published on Friday afternoon, Johnson wrote about his attempts to lose weight wit...

Major ‘Jeopardy!’ flub has producers saying ‘forget it ever happened’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

(CNN) — What is … going on with “Jeopardy?”A recent “Jeopardy!” episode with fewer buzzer hits than usual has left producers wanting to move on fast.The show’s producer Sarah Foss and former champion Buzzy Cohen appeared on the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast last week to discuss the episode, during which all three contestants failed to buzz in on 23 different clues. Contestants Collette Lee, Kristine Rembach and returning champion Suresh Krishnan stood stumped during the categories.Foss said it’s not something producers enjoy seeing.“One thing that was not so great about this game, in this game — this has to be a record — 23 triple stumpers. And it’s something we never like to see,” she said.Cohen added the silence was “not good,” blaming the lack of answers on the contestants’ moods.“You know, it’s the last game before lunch,” Cohen said of the episode’s taping. “Maybe everyone’s a little hungry or sleepy.”Five “Jeopardy!” episodes are taped in just one day, Co...

Biden’s ‘God save the Queen’ remark at CT gun safety summit causes confusion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

President Joe Biden’s closing statement following his keynote speech at the National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford on Friday has come into question.During his last few seconds on the stage at the summit, Biden said “God Save the Queen, man” to a crowd made up mostly of gun reform activists, gun violence survivors and families of shooting victims.Biden traveled to West Hartford on Friday to celebrate one year since the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun law passed by Congress in 30 years.After his statement stirred questions and was trending on social media, a spokesperson for the White House said Friday evening that the president was responding to someone in the crowd when he made the comment.“He couldn’t do the full ropeline due to weather, and was commenting to someone in the crowd,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton said via email.WATCH: Biden finishes gun control speech with curious 'God...

Saudi FM in Tehran as part of restoration of diplomatic ties after a 7-year rift

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat arrived in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the latest step in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two Mideast rivals, Iranian state media reported.The state-run IRNA said that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is going to meet his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran.Prince Faisal is expected to officially inaugurate the kingdom’s embassy, later on Saturday, in the capital.Both nations reopened their diplomatic missions in recent weeks.In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after seven years of tension.It was a major diplomatic breakthrough brokered by China, lowering the chance of further conflict between Riyadh and Tehran — both directly and in proxy conflicts around the region.The Associated Press

Trump’s legal troubles anger some GOP voters. Still, it’s no sure bet they will back him in 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:45 GMT

PELLA, Iowa (AP) — Kathleen Evenhouse took a break from her work in the corner of a small-town Iowa coffee shop to slam the federal criminal indictment of Donald Trump as patently political, the work of a U.S. Justice Department she says is awash in hypocrisy. “I think we’re playing a game as a country,” the 72-year-old author from Pella said in an interview, expressing a sentiment widely shared among conservatives since the former president was charged. “I think that damages any sense of justice or any sense of — should I even bother to vote? Why should I listen to the news? Or why should I care?”Evenhouse does plan to vote in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucuses next year. Despite her anger about Trump’s plight, he will not win her support. Many voters in early states who will play an outsize role in deciding his political fate agree that he is being treated unfairly. While there is widespread distrust of the Justice Department and it...