paper roulette Former Virginia guard Jalen Warley is transferring to Gonzaga, according to several reports Monday. Gonzaga appeared to confirm the transfer by reposting the news on social media. Warley, who has 96 college games (58 starts) under his belt, will use a redshirt this year and spend 2025-26 in Spokane, Wash. Warley played three seasons at Florida State before transferring to Virginia before the 2024-25 season. He was allowed to enter the transfer portal again following the surprise retirement of coach Tony Bennett just three weeks before the season. With the Seminoles, Warley averaged 6.0 points, 2.9 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. His junior year was his best, as he put up 7.5 points, 2.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game over 33 appearances (32 starts). --Field Level Media

Special counsel moves to dismiss election interference and classified documents cases against Trump

The head of the British Museum said Wednesday any deal with Greece to loan the prized Parthenon Marbles to Athens was "still some distance" away, as Greek authorities insist on their permanent return. Expectations have grown this week that a deal is imminent to send the ancient friezes back to Greece, easing a decades-long dispute over them which has soured UK-Greek ties. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Downing Street on Tuesday, just as the British Museum confirmed it has been holding "constructive" talks with Athens. A day later, museum chairman George Osborne reiterated the London institution was exploring an "arrangement where at some point some of the sculptures are in Athens", in return for Greece lending "some of its treasures". "We made a lot of progress on that, but we're still some distance from any kind of agreement," he said on a political podcast he co-hosts. But Osborne -- a former UK finance minister -- appeared eager to dampen expectations that any loan deal was imminent, noting he was speaking from New York and not the British capital. "I would be in London if we were on the verge of reaching an agreement with Greece around the Parthenon sculptures," he added. Meanwhile comments from Athens suggest the two sides are still far apart. On Monday, Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis insisted the country will not "back down" on its "ownership" claims. It echoes the stance of Greece's culture minister Lina Mendoni, who said a year ago that "we are in no way talking about a loan". The Parthenon Marbles, also called the Elgin Marbles, have been a source of contention between Britain and Greece for over two centuries. Greek authorities maintain that the sculptures were looted in 1802 by Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. London claims that the sculptures were "legally acquired" by Elgin and then sold to the British Museum. The issue overshadowed Mitsotakis's last official visit to Britain, when Starmer's predecessor Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting at the last minute after the Greek leader's public comments about it reportedly irked the UK side. Osborne suggested Wednesday he had been given a freer hand by the Labour government elected in July. "Keir Starmer has said this is very much a matter for the trustees of the British Museum, who are independent of the government," he said. "It seems to me a more sensible and diplomatic way to proceed." A 1963 UK law prevents the British museum from giving away treasures, but it has about 1,400 objects on long-term loan at other museums every year. Critics have warned that moving the Marbles could set a precedent for other UK museums holding contentious items from around the world. Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, said the UK "legal constraints" meant "case-by-case exploration of partnerships... is where the sector is going to go." "I think this particular issue is of a lot greater interest in Greece than in Britain," he noted of the friezes, adding the Starmer government appeared "agnostic" about their return. Outside the British Museum, Britons and tourists appeared weary of the complex issue but willing to let the friezes go. "I can see why the Greeks want them back, but it's definitely complicated," said Helge Bugge, 39, a physician from Norway. "Probably the most important part would be their conservation," he added. "If that's ensured in the original country, then I suppose they should have them back." Businessman Nick Ward, 50, visiting the museum with his young daughter, mused that a loan was probably a "good interim" measure. "We've probably had them long enough," he said, adding: "I think there are bigger problems in the world." But Greek tourist Ioannis Papazachariou, 36, a museum worker in Athens, had refused to tour the London institution with his girlfriend over the Marbles. "We think that they are stolen," he told AFP as he waited for her to emerge. Papazachariou was sceptical a loan deal would materialise anytime soon, predicting it would take "many years". "The British Museum is not going to accept that the marbles are stolen, right? "We asked the British to give us the Marbles, I think, in 1970. It's too many years."

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WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after the Jan. 6, 2021 , U.S. Capitol attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department was committed to holding accountable all perpetrators “at any level” for “the assault on our democracy.” That bold declaration won't apply to at least one person: Donald Trump. Special counsel Jack Smith's move on Monday to abandon the federal election interference case against Trump means jurors will likely never decide whether the president-elect is criminally responsible for his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 campaign. The decision to walk away from the election charges and the separate classified documents case against Trump marks an abrupt end of the Justice Department’s unprecedented legal effort that once threatened his liberty but appears only to have galvanized his supporters. The abandonment of the cases accusing Trump of endangering American democracy and national security does away with the most serious legal threats he was facing as he returns to the White House. It was the culmination of a monthslong defense effort to delay the proceedings at every step and use the criminal allegations to Trump's political advantage, putting the final word in the hands of voters instead of jurors. “We always knew that the rich and powerful had an advantage, but I don’t think we would have ever believed that somebody could walk away from everything,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former Justice Department official. “If there ever was a Teflon defendant, that’s Donald Trump.” While prosecutors left the door open to the possibility that federal charges could be re-filed against Trump after he leaves office, that seems unlikely. Meanwhile, Trump's presidential victory has thrown into question the future of the two state criminal cases against him in New York and Georgia. Trump was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday after his conviction on 34 felony counts in his New York hush money case , but it's possible the sentencing could be delayed until after Trump leaves office, and the defense is pushing to dismiss the case altogether. Smith's team stressed that their decision to abandon the federal cases was not a reflection of the merit of the charges, but an acknowledgement that they could not move forward under longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. Trump's presidential victory set “at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests: On the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities . . . and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. The move just weeks after Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris underscores the immense personal stake Trump had in the campaign in which he turned his legal woes into a political rallying cry. Trump accused prosecutors of bringing the charges in a bid to keep him out of the White House, and he promised revenge on his perceived enemies if he won a second term. “If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vice President-elect JD Vance, wrote in a social media post on Monday. “These prosecutions were always political. Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again.” After the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured, Republican leader Mitch McConnell and several other Republicans who voted to acquit Trump during his Senate impeachment trial said it was up to the justice system to hold Trump accountable. The Jan. 6 case brought last year in Washington alleged an increasingly desperate criminal conspiracy to subvert the will of voters after Trump's 2020 loss, accusing Trump of using the angry mob of supporters that attacked the Capitol as “a tool” in his campaign to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence and obstruct the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory. Hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters — many of whom have said they felt called to Washington by Trump — have pleaded guilty or been convicted by juries of federal charges at the same courthouse where Trump was supposed to stand trial last year. As the trial date neared, officials at the courthouse that sits within view of the Capitol were busy making plans for the crush of reporters expected to cover the historic case. But Trump's argument that he enjoyed absolute immunity from prosecution quickly tied up the case in appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. The high court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution , and sent the case back to the trial court to decide which allegations could move forward. But the case was dismissed before the trial court could got a chance to do so. The other indictment brought in Florida accused Trump of improperly storing at his Mar-a-Lago estate sensitive documents on nuclear capabilities, enlisting aides and lawyers to help him hide records demanded by investigators and cavalierly showing off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and classified map. But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in July it on grounds that Smith was illegally appointed . Smith appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but abandoned that appeal on Monday. Smith's team said it would continue its fight in the appeals court to revive charges against Trump's two co-defendants because “no principle of temporary immunity applies to them.” In New York, jurors spent weeks last spring hearing evidence in a state case alleging a Trump scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. New York prosecutors recently expressed openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump's second term, while Trump's lawyers are fighting to have the conviction dismissed altogether. In Georgia, a trial while Trump is in office seems unlikely in a state case charging him and more than a dozen others with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The case has been on hold since an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case. ____ Associated Press reporter Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed. Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated PressIn a significant political escalation, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has submitted an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha, spotlighting a contentious incident involving the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation, was abruptly halted by authorities while heading to violence-stricken Sambhal to meet bereaved families. Venugopal sharply criticized the move, labeling it a 'grave assault' on democratic principles and parliamentary privileges. He emphasized the act of denying permission to the opposition leader and fellow MPs as a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of movement, demanding immediate dialogue in the House to safeguard democratic norms. The situation further escalated with Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also filing an adjournment motion regarding the government's interference. Gogoi underscored the alarming impact of this obstruction, arguing it stifles opposition efforts to assess ground realities and maintain governmental accountability amidst regional tensions, following violent clashes prompted by an ASI survey. (With inputs from agencies.)

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DETROIT — In the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration, the government’s highway safety agency proposed voluntary safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles. However, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule that would put the plan in place won’t be approved before the end of Biden’s term in January and likely will be left to whoever runs the agency under Republican Donald Trump. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whom Trump named to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency to cut costs and regulations, floated the idea of him helping to develop safety standards for self-driving vehicles — even though the standards would affect Tesla’s automated driving systems. At present, no federal regulations exist that specifically govern autonomous vehicles, and any regulation is left to states. However, self-driving vehicles must meet broad federal safety standards that cover all passenger vehicles. Under the agency’s proposal, automakers and autonomous vehicle companies could enroll in a program that would require safety plans and some data reporting for autonomous vehicles operating on public roads. To apply, companies would be required to have independent assessments of their automated vehicle safety processes, and there would be requirements to report crashes and other problems with the vehicles. Companies would be required to give NHTSA information and data on the safety of the design, development and operations of the vehicles. The agency would decide whether to accept companies into the program. Auto safety advocates say the plan falls short of needed regulation for self-driving vehicles. For instance, it doesn’t set specific performance standards for the vehicles such as numbers and types of of sensors or whether the vehicles can see objects in low-visibility conditions, they said. “This is a big bunch of nothing,” said Missy Cummings, director of the autonomy and robotics center at George Mason University and a former safety adviser to NHTSA. “It’ll be more of a completely useless paperwork drill where the companies swear they’re doing the right thing.” Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said one of the few good things about the plan is that companies will have to report data on crashes and other problems. There were reports that the Trump administration may want to scrap a NHTSA order that now requires autonomous vehicle companies to report crashes to the agency so it can collect data. A message was left Friday seeking comment from the Trump transition team on crash-reporting requirements. Brooks said the incoming administration probably will want to put out its own version of the guidelines. NHTSA will seek public comment on the plan for about 60 days, after which the plan would wind its way through the federal regulatory process, which can take months or even years. The agency said it believes the plan can accelerate learning about autonomous vehicles as well as work toward future regulations. “It is important that ADS (Automated Driving System) technology be deployed in a manner that protects the public from unreasonable safety risk while at the same time allowing for responsible development of this technology, which has the potential to advance safety,” the proposed rule says. The agency concedes that in the future there may be a need for NHTSA to set minimum standards for self-driving vehicle performance that are similar to mandatory safety standards that govern human-driven cars. But the agency says it now doesn’t have data and metrics to support those standards. The voluntary plan would help gather those, the proposal says. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Pals' 'panic' as Tulisa 'disappears' from Aussie hotel after I'm a Celebrity exitOnce voted one of NFL's dirtiest players, Jon Runyan now handing out finesWhen we think about extending life, we tend to selfishly focus on human life. What new medical advancement or technology will ensure that a person alive today will live to be 200 years old? We don’t often think of longevity in terms of animals—not even man’s best friend , the dog. That’s about to change, though. Researchers are exploring drugs to prolong the lives of dogs, an advancement that could one day benefit humans, too. Loyal is a biotech startup currently testing a pill called LOY–002. It’s a medication designed to extend a dog’s life by at least one year by fending off age-related metabolic changes like insulin resistance. The pill, should it prove successful, will not ensure immortality but rather extend a dog’s life by slowing the aging process. Videos by VICE Humans happen to share a lot of the same age-related diseases as dogs, and since they inhabit a lot of the same environments we do and share a lot of our same habits since our lives are so intertwined , a lot of the research going into extending a dog’s life could, in theory, be applied to a human version of this same pill some time down the line. “Finding out how to prevent canine age-related decline is a really strong proxy for doing the same with humans because dogs get similar age-related diseases, and share our environments and habits in ways laboratory mice do not,” said Celine Halioua, founder and chief executive of Loyal, per The Guardian . Meanwhile, a whole different team of researchers with the University of Washington-based Dog Aging Project is testing out the effects of an immunosuppressant drug called rapamycin, which is known to increase the lifespan of laboratory mice. The project is still at least half a decade away from reporting its results. Researchers who have spoken to the media about their work, however, say the results have been promising thus far, and have indicated that their research may also one day be applied to extending human lives.

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From tradition to innovation: CROPPS Symposium explores sustainable agriculture for hotter, drier climatesWhile Namibia is generally regarded as a peaceful and stable democracy, it is essential to critically evaluate its performance against the benchmarks of state functionality. This article looks at the definition of state failure, explores factors that could contribute to it, assesses Namibia’s position and offers recommendations for improvement. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? State failure refers to a government’s inability to perform its core functions, such as ensuring security, providing basic services, maintaining legitimate governance and upholding the rule of law. According to author Robert Rotberg (2004), a failed state is characterised by the loss of monopoly over the legitimate use of force, inability to provide public goods, widespread corruption and weakened institutions. Failed states often experience high levels of social unrest, economic collapse and loss of public trust in governance. The Fragile States Index (FSI), compiled annually by the Fund for Peace, is one of the most widely used tools for assessing state fragility. It evaluates states based on indicators such as economic inequality, political stability, social cohesion and public service delivery. Countries that score poorly are classified as “fragile” or “failing”. Since gaining independence in 1990, Namibia has made notable strides in political stability and democratic governance. However, the lingering effects of colonialism and apartheid have left a legacy of economic inequality and land dispossession. Compared to its neighbours, Namibia stands out for its peaceful elections and environmental policies but it lags in addressing unemployment and corruption. Botswana, for instance, has leveraged its mining wealth for more effective public service delivery, while South Africa faces similar inequality challenges but has a more diversified economy. KEY RANKINGS Namibia has consistently demonstrated strong democratic governance. However, there are emerging challenges that raise questions about the country’s long-term effectiveness as a state. Namibia has experienced periodic protests over economic conditions, unemployment and gender-based violence. While not at crisis level, they reflect underlying societal frustrations. CAN WE IMPROVE OUR RESILIENCE? The FSI 2023 ranks Namibia in the ‘stable’ category, reflecting its overall resilience. However, its scores in indicators such as economic inequality, demographic pressures, and public services suggest areas for improvement (Fund for Peace, 2024). To address its vulnerabilities, Namibia should consider the following: IT’S UP TO US In terms of definition, Namibia is far from being a failed state. It continues to maintain political stability, relative peace and functional governance structures. However, economic inequality and corruption underscore the need for proactive measures to strengthen state resilience. Namibia is not a failed state but it faces vulnerabilities that could threaten its stability if left unaddressed. Addressing economic disparities, enhancing transparency and accountability, improving service delivery and preparing for climate impacts are crucial steps. With targeted reforms and inclusive governance, Namibia can maintain its reputation as a stable and peaceful democracy.