Breaking
Wealth World News
Archive

2025

Browsing
Sports

Kyrie Irving wants to play for Australia at 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Following the 2025 NBA All-Star mini-tournament on Sunday, where Irving replaced an injured Anthony Davis as a reserve, Irving revealed his desire to join the Australian national basketball team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

‘We’re in the process of that right now,’ the Dallas Mavericks star guard told reporters Sunday. ‘Just trying to figure out what’s going to be the best route for me to be eligible. There’s a lot of paperwork in between that.’

Irving was born in Melbourne, Australia, while his father Drederick played professional ball for the Bulleen Boomers. He grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, and holds dual citizenship in both America and Australia. Irving won gold as a member of Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but he was not included on the roster for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics or 2024 Paris Olympics. (The U.S. men won gold at both Olympic Games.)

DALLAS MAVERICKS: Kyrie Irving ‘still grieving’ after Luka Doncic trade

All things Mavs: Latest Dallas Mavericks news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Although he left the door open for possibly playing for the red, white and blue at the next Olympics — ‘Obviously, Team USA still has a decision to make’ — Irving said it would be ‘great’ to represent Australia.

‘If I can be an Aussie at one point in my career and play for the Australian team, that would be great,’ said Irving, who will be 36 by the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Australians finished sixth overall at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a slip from the nation’s bronze medal finish at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Games. Australia’s roster for the 2024 Paris Games included NBA players Josh Giddey, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Dyson Daniels.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Here’s the argument Trump hopes will net first major SCOTUS win in second term

In its first appeal of its second term to reach the Supreme Court, the Trump administration is arguing that the judiciary is attempting ‘to seize executive power’ as courts have blocked the president from firing certain federal employees. 

Experts say the high court will likely be sympathetic to that argument and point to the ferocious dissent from a lower court judge, Trump appointee Greg Katsas, which they said laid the groundwork for Trump’s potential victory.

‘I am of the strong opinion that the devastating dissent written by Judge Katsas will strongly influence the current justices on the Supreme Court,’ Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. 

The Justice Department filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in the case involving the firing of Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Special Counsel Office. Dellinger was fired from his role this month and shortly thereafter filed suit against the Trump administration, arguing that his termination was illegal and was ‘in direct conflict with nearly a century of precedent’ delineating proper removal of independent agency officials. 

A lower court judge initially issued an administrative stay that reinstated Dellinger to his position, to which he was appointed by former President Joe Biden. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to block that decision. 

The lower court then issued a temporary restraining order that reinstated Dellinger for 14 days. The DOJ appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which declined to lift the order on Sunday.

The panel, which voted 2-1, was split along party lines, with Katsas dissenting.

The Trump-appointed judge wrote that the order ‘warrants immediate appellate review’ as the issue at hand ‘directs the President to recognize and work with an agency head whom he has already removed.’

‘Where a lower court allegedly impinges on the President’s core Article II powers, immediate appellate review should be generally available,’ Katsas wrote. 

Katsas said the order ‘controlling how [the president] performs his official duties’ is ‘virtually unheard of.’ Katsas also wrote that the order ‘usurped a core Article II power of the President.’

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the DOJ said the case ‘involves an unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrants immediate relief.’

‘Until now, as far as we are aware, no court in American history has wielded an injunction to force the President to retain an agency head whom the President believes should not be entrusted with executive power and to prevent the President from relying on his preferred replacement,’ the appeal reads. 

The Trump administration referred back to Katsas’ dissent numerous times in its appeal, arguing that the Court cannot allow courts ‘to seize executive power by dictating to the President how long he must continue employing an agency head against his will.’

Von Spakovsky called the appellate court’s decision declining to lift the order ‘really outrageous and an unprecedented abuse of their judicial authority.’

‘The Supreme Court itself has said that the president has the unrestricted authority to remove the single head of an executive agency, as Katsas points out, and yet these courts are thumbing their noses at the Supreme Court and blithely violating those precedents,’ von Spakovsky said.

Likewise, constitutional law attorney and Fox News Contributor Jonathan Turley said he expects the justices to ‘resonate’ with the arguments made in Katsas’ dissent. 

‘While the panel ruled on a technical barrier to the review of a temporary restraining order, the dissent correctly points out that this is an extraordinary claim of authority by the district court,’ Turley said.

Von Spakovsky called the appellate court’s decision ‘one of the worst examples of judicial activism we have seen’ and said ‘it needs to be immediately and decisively stopped by the Supreme Court.’

He continued on to advise that the court ‘should forgo its usual politeness and collegiality and severely criticize the district court judge for her contemptuous behavior as well as the appellate court judges for not stopping it.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Trump can rein in Biden’s out-of-control antitrust operation

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Senate Judiciary Committee soon will hold confirmation hearings for Gail Slater for assistant attorney general, antitrust division. Slater’s antitrust understanding is broad and deep; she previously worked in the Trump 45 administration, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the private sector. She already has support from several senators and Attorney General Pam Bondi; she ought to be confirmed easily. 

Slater, once confirmed, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, and their respective agencies should return to following the Consumer Welfare Standard (‘CWS’), which has been the law of the land since the Supreme Court’s 1979 Reiter v. Sonotone opinion.  

Reiter adopted CWS from Professor Robert Bork’s seminal 1978 book, ‘The Antitrust Paradox,’ which explained that competition leads companies to benefit consumers through, for example, lowering prices, growing output, improving customer service, expanding research and development, and increasing innovation.  

CWS has proven to be a consistent, objective standard, measurable through economic analysis and empirical evidence. Consequently, because enforcers and courts could apply CWS fairly, it provided companies with predictability in policy, law and enforcement, which led to great innovation and growth.  

Unfortunately, the Biden administration disregarded the law and sought to wreck CWS, with his staffers, including Federal Trade Commission. Chair Lina Khan, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, Special Assistant to the President Tim Wu and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rohit Chopra, leading the way.  

They are disciples of the discredited ‘Brandeisian Antitrust’ view, which is an amorphous standard that is subject to the whims of whichever antitrust enforcer is in office or the personal preferences of individual judges. Moreover, Congress never specified a maximum permissible market share or how big is too big for companies.  

For example, under Brandeisian Antitrust, a big company with a market share as low as 4.5% faced antitrust enforcement risk. Accordingly, Brandeisian Antitrust proponents claim that consumers are better off with fewer big companies, more smaller companies, and paying higher prices. 

The Trump administration will decide how to properly apply CWS and robustly enforce antitrust laws without adversely affecting U.S. innovation and global competitiveness, particularly because Chinese and other foreign-based companies compete neck and neck with U.S. companies (e.g., Chinese AI company DeepSeek). Worse, the E.U. imposed billions of euros in antitrust fines on U.S. tech companies (e.g., Apple, Alphabet), essentially transferring money from the employees and shareholders to E.U. bureaucrats. 

Department of Justice divisions commonly temporarily pause or request extensions for their active cases when awaiting confirmation of an incoming administration’s assistant attorney general. However, the outgoing Biden DOJ acted contrarily.  

For example, it abruptly filed an opposition motion in Visa, Inc. on the day before Trump’s inauguration, and on January 30, 2025, acting AAG Omeed Assef filed a new lawsuit to block Hewlett Packard’s proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks in the wireless local area network (WLAN) sector. Other examples of the Biden DOJ’s likely overreach include its RealPage, Inc. and Ticketmaster-Live Nation lawsuits. 

In Visa, the Biden DOJ, perhaps deflecting blame from its administration’s bad policies that caused high bankcard fees, alleged that Visa’s volume discounts and incentive payments were not procompetitive investments in its network and partnerships, but instead were anticompetitive and blocked competitors from entering the debit transaction sector.  

Visa is especially interesting because Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Amendment already mandates that debit cards enable at least two unaffiliated payment card networks, which ensures competition in transaction routing. It also caps interchange fees for Visa and MasterCard while exempting American Express and Discover, who therefore can charge merchants higher fees. 

Reiter adopted CWS from Professor Robert Bork’s seminal 1978 book, ‘The Antitrust Paradox,’ which explained that competition leads companies to benefit consumers through, for example, lowering prices, growing output, improving customer service, expanding research and development, and increasing innovation.  

In RealPage, the Biden DOJ, perhaps deflecting blame from its administration’s bad policies that caused skyrocketing rental prices, alleged that RealPage, Inc., which makes A.I. software that automates rental ‘comps’ to advise apartment landlords, price fixed and caused high rental prices.  

In Ticketmaster-Live Nation, the Biden DOJ, perhaps taking political advantage of Ticketmaster’s high profile technological failures (e.g. its November 2022 website crash for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour), alleged that Ticketmaster-Live Nation illegally monopolized the live event sector through exclusionary, retaliatory and other anticompetitive behavior.   

Slater and the Trump DOJ should pause and review these and other Biden administration antitrust actions. Antitrust enforcement is designed to protect competition, not individual companies. It is not for pursuing social policies such as preventing social media censorship, raising employee wages, minimizing inequality or limiting companies’ political influence.  

The Biden administration unwisely abandoned 46 years of CWS success and regressed to the previous failed Brandeisian view, thus creating uncertainty, stifling innovation, slowing economic growth and giving itself political and enforcement discretion. 

The Trump administration announced on February 12 that it will no longer recognize any statutory or for cause removal protections for FTC, Consumer Product Safety Commission and National Labor Relations Board commissioners, giving the president more freedom to replace them.  

Accordingly, the Trump administration can and should return to the Consumer Welfare Standard, reverse the Biden administration’s failures, and benefit consumers and the general economy.   

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Medicaid becomes flashpoint in House debate over Trump budget bill

Medicaid is quickly emerging as a political lightning rod as House Republicans negotiate on a massive bill to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Some Republican lawmakers are worried about the level of spending cuts being sought by fiscal hawks to offset the cost of Trump’s policies, arguing the current deal could force potentially unworkable cuts on Medicaid and other federal safety net programs.

‘I’m concerned that $880 billion out of [the House Energy & Commerce Committee] is likely very steep cuts to Medicaid – and it’s the very thing President Trump asked us not to do,’ Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

GOP lawmakers are working to pass a broad swath of Trump policies – from investments in defense and border security to extending his 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips – via the budget reconciliation process. The mechanism allows the party in control of both houses of Congress to pass a tax and budget bill without help from the opposing party.

But conservative spending hawks are looking for deep cuts in federal dollars to offset money going toward Trump’s priorities. The current resolution advancing through the House would aim to cut government spending by at least $1.5 trillion, while allocating $4.5 trillion toward Trump’s tax cuts.

An amendment added after conservatives balked at that deal would cut funding going toward Trump’s tax cuts by $500 billion if at least $2 trillion total spending cuts were not reached. 

Even before the additional cuts, however, some Republicans like Bacon are concerned that the $880 billion that the Energy & Commerce Committee is tasked with cutting will negatively impact their constituents.

Conservatives have pushed back, arguing that significant cuts could be found in Medicaid work requirements. But skeptics of that argument say that the level of spending cuts being sought go past what work requirements can cover.

‘We want to ensure that it’s not going to hurt… our hospitals, or our organizations that serve the developmentally disabled, and we’re asking for clarity on where the $880 billion in savings come from,’ Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., the only House Republican representing part of New York City, told Fox News Digital.

She did agree with GOP rebels that there was ‘mismanagement’ and waste to root out in those programs.

Malliotakis and other Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee tasked with writing tax policy are also uneasy about the new amendment that could cut funds allocated to their panel.

‘I don’t think that is doable without affecting beneficiaries, and I’ve expressed that concern to leadership and in talking to some of my colleagues,’ Malliotakis said.

Another House Republican who declined to be named told Fox News Digital that ‘there’s a bunch of us’ who think the proposed cuts ‘are too big.’

‘They’re trying to sell us $1.5 trillion, but in reality, there’s another $500 billion attached to it that they’re trying to cut. And it’s not going to pass,’ the GOP lawmaker said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., who unseated a Democrat in a close race last year, wrote on X over the weekend, ‘I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it.’

The budget reconciliation process allows legislation to advance with only GOP votes by lowering the threshold for Senate passage from two-thirds to a simple 51-seat majority. The House already operates on a simple majority.

But currently, Republicans can lose just one vote in the House to pass anything on party lines – meaning they can afford almost no dissent to get their reconciliation bill over the line.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a conservative on the House Budget Committee who would not have supported the resolution last week without the last-minute amendment, told reporters last week, ‘Medicaid’s got to be in it. You don’t get to the [$1.5 trillion figure], much less two, without it.’

‘And it’s not cuts to Medicaid. Work requirements have an $800 billion savings on it… able-bodied 40-year-old men who can work don’t need to be on Medicaid,’ Norman said.

Democrats are waiting to pounce on the discord.

The House Majority PAC, which is aligned with House Democratic leadership, released a memo on Tuesday accusing Republicans of seeking to make ‘deep cuts’ to Medicaid ‘to fund $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to Elon Musk and other billionaires.’

‘In battleground congressional districts across the country, House Republicans are putting Medicaid on the chopping block – a move that would rip life-saving health care away from tens of thousands of their own constituents – roughly half of whom are children,’ the memo said.

But according to Ways & Means Republicans, the average American household could see taxes raised by over 20% if the Trump tax cuts expired.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Elon Musk’s budget-slashing hits political reality of suffering Americans

Nearly everyone agrees that the federal government has become this bloated monster that needs to be cut down to size.

The massive bureaucracy, attacked by some as evil, is absurdly overstaffed and wastes massive amounts of money.

What President Trump is doing in trying to shrink the size of government is popular – even if his billionaire budget-slasher, Elon Musk, is not – and many of the court battles are likely to be resolved in his favor.

But the equation is turned on its head when actual people feel the impact. And the media start highlighting sad cases of devastated folks. And Republican lawmakers start objecting to the cutbacks that hit home.

That’s why it’s so hard to cut the federal budget. It’s not like going into SpaceX and firing a bunch of software engineers. The political pressures can be intense.

Virtually every program in the federal budget is there because some group, at some time, convinced Congress it was a good idea. There are noble-sounding causes – cancer research, aid to veterans, subsidies for farmers.

In fact, farmers are threatened by the near-abolition of USAID – while most people hate foreign aid, food programs provide a crucial market for American farmers, many of whom are now stuck with spoiling surpluses or loans they can’t repay.

Now there’s plenty of game-playing that goes on with government programs. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that agencies could cut one of every 10 employees without damaging their core functions. 

Anyone who’s looked at the endless cycle of conferences, conventions, training confabs, office renovations and the like knows how much fat there is in these budgets. When you throw in lucrative payments to well-connected contractors, that figure skyrockets.

But when agency officials come under fire, they immediately insist that any cutbacks will instantly hurt the poor and downtrodden, or working-class folks living paycheck to paycheck. It used to be called the Washington Monument defense, the notion that any attempt to reduce funding for the Interior Department would cause the memorial’s immediate shutdown.

NIH, for instance, does world-class research that benefits the country. But the battle between Musk’s DOGE and the institute centers on how much is spent on indirect costs.

Musk says his aim is ‘dropping the overhead charged on NIH grants from the outrageous 60 percent to a far more reasonable 15 percent.’

But an NBC story is headlined: ‘NIH Cuts Could Stall Medical Progress for Lifesaving Treatments, Experts Say.’

The piece quotes Theodore Iwashyna, a physician at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, as saying his ‘father had pancreatic cancer, and the care plan developed for him existed only because of research funded through organizations like the NIH.’

Iwashyna says the overhead is needed for ‘computers, whiteboards, microscopes, electricity, and janitors and staff who keep labs clean and organized.’

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, whose state is getting $518 million in NIH grants, mainly to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is raising objections. The conservative Republican told a reporter she wants the administration to take a ‘smart, targeted approach’ so as not to endanger ‘groundbreaking, lifesaving research.’

The examples are legion. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has asked the administration not to restrict funding for diversity programs among American Indian tribes.

As the New York Times puts it, ‘some Republicans’ have sought ‘carve outs and special consideration for agriculture programs, scientific research and more, even as they cheered on Mr. Trump’s overall approach.’

Musk’s DOGE team seems to be using a meat-ax method. Why lay off hundreds of FAA technicians and engineers just weeks after the fatal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, when there’s already a major shortage of air traffic controllers?

FEMA, which is already stretched thin after the Los Angeles wildfires and the Kentucky flooding, is preparing to fire hundreds of probationary workers, reports the Washington Post. Such workers, who have been with the government for one or two years, basically have no rights. 

But there has been zero effort to assess them. Some were told their performance was the issue, but showed the Post their evaluations. ‘Above fully successful,’ said one, for a fired GSA worker. ‘An outstanding year, consistently exceeding expectations,’ said the review for a fired NIH staffer.

But viewed from a different angle, the hometown paper and other outlets buy into the notion that federal employees should have tenure for life. Everyone in Washington knows that before Trump it was virtually impossible to fire such employees, even for cause. 

By contrast, Southwest Airlines just announced a 15% cut of its corporate workforce. No one is rushing to interview those laid off, because this sort of downsizing is routine in the private sector. But the Beltway ethos is that federal workers are entitled to their jobs.

Now intellectual honesty requires the observation that even radical cuts to the federal payroll won’t have much impact on the $840 billion budget deficit or the $36 trillion federal debt. The bulk of the budget consists of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense spending and interest on the debt.

Can Elon Musk and DOGE at least make progress on rooting out waste, fraud and abuse? Maybe. But the level of pain being inflicted on ordinary Americans, including in red states, and the natural tendency of politicians to shield local residents from that pain, and the media’s relentless spotlight on those suffering, are going to be a giant obstacle.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Unrivaled women’s basketball highlights: Tuesday’s results

MEDLEY, Fla. – Chelsea Gray and Angel Reese are a tough pair to guard in the pick-and-roll. They had no problem executing it down the stretch of their fourth Unrivaled win.

Gray scored the game-winning shot to finish with 26 points, Reese had 16 points and 15 rebounds for another double-double, and the Rose beat the Vinyl 61-55 in the first of two Unrivaled games Tuesday night.

Despite leading 13-2 after the first quarter, the Rose found itself trailing 49-48 heading into the fourth quarter. But, the Rose won the final frame and are now .500, improving to 4-4.

“We went down, and nobody really hung their head. None of them thought, ‘Oh man, this is over.’ They just went on a run, and it was always ‘we can get the next stop, and then we’re executing on offense,’ Rose coach Nola Henry said. “The only thing that matters is what’s right in front of you.”

Gray and Reese provided a steady diet of offense with their pick-and-roll actions. Reese was often under the basket, while Gray found space in the paint to take over the game. Brittney Sykes added 17 points in the Rose win.

“There was one play they found that was pretty successful for them,” Vinyl coach Teresa Weatherspoon said of the Gray-Reese connection. “What we did to even have ourselves back into the game, that’s something we can build off of.”

The Vinyl outscored the Rose 24-16 in the second quarter and 23-19 in the third quarter. But they ultimately fell flat in the final quarter, as the Rose took the game with a 13-6 advantage.

Rhyne Howard scored 24 points, while Dearica Hamby had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Vinyl in the loss.

Kayla McBride scored 30 points, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 23 points and the game-winner in her first Unrivaled game on a player relief contract, and the Laces beat the Phantom 75-68 in the second game.

Unrivaled’s second half unofficially began Tuesday night. Four of the six teams will reach the playoff semifinals on March 16, and the final will be played on March 17.

Check out these highlights from Unrivaled’s games Tuesday night from USA TODAY Sports:

Unrivaled highlights

Unrivaled final score: Laces 75, Phantom 68

Kayla McBride scored 30 points, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 23 points and the game-winner in her first Unrivaled game on a player relief contract, and the Laces beat the Phantom 75-68 in the second of two games Tuesday night.

Laney-Hamilton joined the league officially on Tuesday when she was named to the Laces’ roster. The Laces barely had five players active for the game.

Tiffany Hayes (concussion protocol), Kate Martin (left leg), Alyssa Thomas (right leg) and Jackie Young (left leg) did not play. The Laces also have Natisha Hiedeman and Kiki Jefferson signed to player-relief contracts due to injuries.

Sabrina Ionescu had 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Satou Sabally scored 15 points and Brittney Griner had 14 points for the Phantom in the loss.

Unrivaled third quarter score: Laces 63, Phantom 59

Target winning score: 74

Kayla McBride had a steal and scored at the free throw line to finish the third quarter with 24 points, helping the Laces take a 63-59 lead into the fourth quarter. Satou Sabally has scored 15 points, while Sabrina Ionescu has 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Phantom.

The first team to reach 74 points will win.

Unrivaled halftime score: Laces 41, Phantom 37

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton has 11 points in her first Unrivaled game, and Kayla McBride has 10 points with six rebounds for the Laces, up 41-37 at halftime against the Phantom.

Sabrina Ionescu came alive with 10 points in the second quarter, along with nine total rebounds for the Phantom.

Unrivaled first quarter score: Laces 19, Phantom 13

Kayla McBride scored six points, and all five Laces players scored in the first quarter to fuel a 19-13 lead over the Phantom.

The Phantom’s Katie Lou Samuelson scored five points, while Brittney Griner had four points and Sabrina Ionescu had five rebounds in the first quarter.

Unrivaled final score: Rose 61, Vinyl 55

Chelsea Gray scored 26 points, Angel Reese had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and the Rose beat the Vinyl 61-55 in the first of two Unrivaled games on Tuesday night.

Gray scored the game-winning bucket, while Brittney Sykes added 17 points in the Rose win.

“We just needed a dub, and everybody contributed,” Gray said of the victory.

Rhyne Howard scored 24 points, while Dearica Hamby had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Vinyl in the loss.

Unrivaled third quarter score: Vinyl 49, Rose 48

Target winning score: 60

It’ll be a race to 60 points in the fourth quarter between the Vinyl and Rose.

Rhyne Howard leads all scorers with 24 points, and Dearica Hamby has 16 points with nine rebounds as the Vinyl leads 49-48 heading into the fourth quarter.

Chelsea Gray has 17 points, while Angel Reese has 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Rose.

Unrivaled halftime score: Rose 29, Vinyl 26

The Vinyl have turned it around, outscoring the Rose 24-16 in the second quarter, but still trail heading into halftime.

Rhyne Howard has 15 points for the Vinyl to lead all scorers, while Chelsea Gray has 11 points and Brittney Sykes has 10 points for the Rose.

Unrivaled first quarter score: Rose 13, Vinyl 2

Chelsea Gray has nine of the Rose’s 13 points, while the Vinyl shot 1 of 20 from the field in the first quarter. Even though the Rose lead, both teams combined to shoot 6 of 36 in the first quarter. Angel Reese already has six rebounds, while Azurá Stevens has five for the Rose.

How to watch Unrivaled games Tuesday night on TV

Unrivaled is available on cable television on TNT in the United States, and TSN+ in Canada.

Watch: Unrivaled games on Sling TV

How to live stream Unrivaled games on Tuesday night

Unrivaled games are also available to live stream on Max, and internationally on YouTube.

Unrivaled standings

Here are the Unrivaled standings heading into the second half of the season:

Lunar Owls (8-0)
Laces (4-3)
Rose (3-4)
Vinyl (3-4)
Phantom (2-5)
Mist (2-6)

Rose (3-4) vs. Vinyl (3-4) preview

The Rose hope to extend a two-game winning streak, while the Vinyl hope to break a four-game skid in tonight’s game.

Chelsea Gray leads Unrivaled with 44 assists, while Reese is first in offensive rebounds (3.1) and fourth in total rebounds per game (9.6) for the Rose. Kahleah Copper won’t be available for the Rose due to a right leg injury.

Dearica Hamby is Unrivaled’s third-leading scorer (21.2 points) and the fourth-leading rebounder (10.4), while Rhyne Howard (13.2 points) and Arike Ogunbowale (13.0) round out the Vinyl’s starting lineup.

Phantom (2-5) vs. Laces (4-3) preview

The Laces hope to have five players active for tonight’s game. Tiffany Hayes (concussion protocol), Kate Martin (left leg), Alyssa Thomas (right leg) are out for tonight’s game.

Kayla McBride is second in Unrivaled with 24.7 points, but questionable to play due to a left leg injury. Jackie Young is also questionable with a left leg injury. Stefanie Dolson is healthy and available.

The Laces have Natisha Hiedeman, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Kiki Jefferson signed to player-relief contracts. If McBride or Young play, Jefferson would not be eligible to play.

The Phantom hopes to snap a two-game skid behind its stars Ionescu, Brittney Griner and Satou Sabally. Ionescu had a breakout game for the Phantom on Jan. 31, where she had 38 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the club’s last win against the Rose.

Napheesa Collier wins Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament

Napheesa Collier of the Lunar Owls won Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tournament, taking home $200,000 after eliminating Aaliyah Edwards in the final. Collier’s Lunar Owls teammates each received $10,000 for her victory.

Edwards earned $50,000 as a runner-up, while Arike Ogunbowale and Azurá Stevens each earned $25,000 as semifinalists.

What is Unrivaled?

Six teams with 36 of the best women’s basketball players in the world, including Sabrina Ionescu and Brittney Griner, will compete in the 3-on-3, full court games.

Where is Unrivaled playing games?

Games will be played at Wayfair Arena in Medley, Florida, which is in the Miami metropolitan area, about 7 miles from Miami International Airport.

Unrivaled team names and rosters

Laces: Stefanie Dolson, Tiffany Hayes, Kate Martin, Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, Jackie Young, Natisha Hiedeman (relief player contract), Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (relief player contract), Kiki Jefferson (relief player contract).
Lunar Owls: Shakira Austin, Napheesa Collier, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Gray, Courtney Williams, Cameron Brink (IR).
Mist: DiJonai Carrington, Aaliyah Edwards, Rickea Jackson, Jewell Loyd, NaLyssa Smith (relief player contract), Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot.
Phantom: Natasha Cloud, Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Marina Mabrey, Satou Sabally, Katie Lou Samuelson.
Rose: Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Lexie Hull, Angel Reese, Azura Stevens, Brittney Sykes.
Vinyl: Aliyah Boston, Rae Burrell, Jordin Canada, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard, Arike Ogunbowale.

Unrivaled rules to know 

Unrivaled games start with three seven-minute quarters, and games end when the target winning score is reached in the fourth quarter. The target winning score is 11 points higher than the highest team’s score after the third quarter, known as the Elam Ending. 
Players also take just one free throw after being fouled: A free throw equals two or three points depending on the shooting foul. 
How long is the Unrivaled court size? It is 72 feet long by 49.2 feet wide. NBA and WNBA courts are 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. 

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Musk opens up about dinner party that soured when Trump’s name was invoked: ‘Like methamphetamine and rabies’

DOGE’s Elon Musk opened up in an interview alongside President Trump with Fox News Sean Hannity about a dinner party where he said he realized how ‘real’ Democratic animosity toward Trump can be.

‘I happened to mention the president’s name and it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies,’ Musk said in the Tuesday night interview while recounting a situation where he mentioned Trump’s name at a dinner party and quickly received pushback.

Musk imitated people at the party going crazy and questioned why they couldn’t have a normal conversation.

‘It’s like they’ve become completely irrational,’ Musk said, adding in the interview that he didn’t realize the severity of ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ was until he attended that dinner party.

During another point in the interview, Hannity asked if Musk would recuse himself from DOGE efforts if there was ever a conflict of interest.

‘If there’s a conflict he won’t be involved,’ Trump said. ‘I wouldn’t want that and he won’t want it.’

‘Right, and also I’m getting sort of a daily proctology exam,’ Musk added. ‘It’s not like I’ll be getting away for something in the dead of night.’

Musk and Trump sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Hannity where they discussed the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) work, the first 100 days of the Trump administration and more. It marks the duo’s first joint television interview.

‘He’s been so unfairly attacked,’ Musk said of Trump during the interview. ‘It’s really outrageous.’

‘I’ve spent a lot of time with the President, and not once have I seen him do anything mean or cruel or wrong.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Unrivaled tonight: Live updates, scores for women’s basketball games

MEDLEY, Fla. – The second half of Unrivaled’s inaugural season continues Tuesday as the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league approaches its postseason.

Angel Reese and the Rose (3-4) will meet Rhyne Howard and the Vinyl (3-4) in the first of two games at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Sabrina Ionescu and the Phantom (2-5) will face Tiffany Hayes, Kayla McBride and the Laces (4-3) in the second game an hour later.

Only four of the six Unrivaled clubs will reach the playoffs. The semifinals are set for March 16, and the final is scheduled March 17.

Here’s everything you need to know about Unrivaled’s games Tuesday night, and stay tuned for live updates from USA TODAY Sports:

Unrivaled final score: Rose 61, Vinyl 55

Chelsea Gray scored 26 points, Angel Reese had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and the Rose beat the Vinyl 61-55 in the first of two Unrivaled games on Tuesday night.

Gray scored the game-winning bucket, while Brittney Sykes added 17 points in the Rose win.

“We just needed a dub, and everybody contributed,” Gray said of the victory.

Rhyne Howard scored 24 points, while Dearica Hamby had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Vinyl in the loss.

Unrivaled third quarter score: Vinyl 49, Rose 48

Target winning score: 60

It’ll be a race to 60 points in the fourth quarter between the Vinyl and Rose.

Rhyne Howard leads all scorers with 24 points, and Dearica Hamby has 16 points with nine rebounds as the Vinyl leads 49-48 heading into the fourth quarter.

Chelsea Gray has 17 points, while Angel Reese has 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Rose.

Unrivaled halftime score: Rose 29, Vinyl 26

The Vinyl have turned it around, outscoring the Rose 24-16 in the second quarter, but still trail heading into halftime.

Rhyne Howard has 15 points for the Vinyl to lead all scorers, while Chelsea Gray has 11 points and Brittney Sykes has 10 points for the Rose.

Unrivaled first quarter score: Rose 13, Vinyl 2

Chelsea Gray has nine of the Rose’s 13 points, while the Vinyl shot 1 of 20 from the field in the first quarter. Even though the Rose lead, both teams combined to shoot 6 of 36 in the first quarter. Angel Reese already has six rebounds, while Azurá Stevens has five for the Rose.

How to watch Unrivaled games Tuesday night on TV

Unrivaled is available on cable television on TNT in the United States, and TSN+ in Canada.

Watch: Unrivaled games on Sling TV

How to live stream Unrivaled games on Tuesday night

Unrivaled games are also available to live stream on Max, and internationally on YouTube.

Unrivaled standings

Here are the Unrivaled standings heading into the second half of the season:

Lunar Owls (8-0)
Laces (4-3)
Rose (3-4)
Vinyl (3-4)
Phantom (2-5)
Mist (2-6)

Rose (3-4) vs. Vinyl (3-4) preview

The Rose hope to extend a two-game winning streak, while the Vinyl hope to break a four-game skid in tonight’s game.

Chelsea Gray leads Unrivaled with 44 assists, while Reese is first in offensive rebounds (3.1) and fourth in total rebounds per game (9.6) for the Rose. Kahleah Copper won’t be available for the Rose due to a right leg injury.

Dearica Hamby is Unrivaled’s third-leading scorer (21.2 points) and the fourth-leading rebounder (10.4), while Rhyne Howard (13.2 points) and Arike Ogunbowale (13.0) round out the Vinyl’s starting lineup.

Phantom (2-5) vs. Laces (4-3) preview

The Laces hope to have five players active for tonight’s game. Tiffany Hayes (concussion protocol), Kate Martin (left leg), Alyssa Thomas (right leg) are out for tonight’s game.

Kayla McBride is second in Unrivaled with 24.7 points, but questionable to play due to a left leg injury. Jackie Young is also questionable with a left leg injury. Stefanie Dolson is healthy and available.

The Laces have Natisha Hiedeman, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Kiki Jefferson signed to player-relief contracts. If McBride or Young play, Jefferson would not be eligible to play.

The Phantom hopes to snap a two-game skid behind its stars Ionescu, Brittney Griner and Satou Sabally. Ionescu had a breakout game for the Phantom on Jan. 31, where she had 38 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the club’s last win against the Rose.

Napheesa Collier wins Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament

Napheesa Collier of the Lunar Owls won Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tournament, taking home $200,000 after eliminating Aaliyah Edwards in the final. Collier’s Lunar Owls teammates each received $10,000 for her victory.

Edwards earned $50,000 as a runner-up, while Arike Ogunbowale and Azurá Stevens each earned $25,000 as semifinalists.

What is Unrivaled?

Six teams with 36 of the best women’s basketball players in the world, including Sabrina Ionescu and Brittney Griner, will compete in the 3-on-3, full court games.

Where is Unrivaled playing games?

Games will be played at Wayfair Arena in Medley, Florida, which is in the Miami metropolitan area, about 7 miles from Miami International Airport.

Unrivaled team names and rosters

Laces: Stefanie Dolson, Tiffany Hayes, Kate Martin, Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, Jackie Young, Natisha Hiedeman (relief player contract), Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (relief player contract), Kiki Jefferson (relief player contract).
Lunar Owls: Shakira Austin, Napheesa Collier, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Gray, Courtney Williams, Cameron Brink (IR).
Mist: DiJonai Carrington, Aaliyah Edwards, Rickea Jackson, Jewell Loyd, NaLyssa Smith (relief player contract), Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot.
Phantom: Natasha Cloud, Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Marina Mabrey, Satou Sabally, Katie Lou Samuelson.
Rose: Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Lexie Hull, Angel Reese, Azura Stevens, Brittney Sykes.
Vinyl: Aliyah Boston, Rae Burrell, Jordin Canada, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard, Arike Ogunbowale.

Unrivaled rules to know 

Unrivaled games start with three seven-minute quarters, and games end when the target winning score is reached in the fourth quarter. The target winning score is 11 points higher than the highest team’s score after the third quarter, known as the Elam Ending. 
Players also take just one free throw after being fouled: A free throw equals two or three points depending on the shooting foul. 
How long is the Unrivaled court size? It is 72 feet long by 49.2 feet wide. NBA and WNBA courts are 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. 

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Best moments from Netflix’s Court of Gold

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to drop in quality before our very eyes. Streaming services continue to put out mediocre show after mediocre show refusing to take risks hoping their 30th iteration of the same tired formula will finally catch smoke. Movies constantly disappoint. Yet somehow, Netflix has still been able to distribute quality entertainment with their documentaries. Their latest being ‘Court of Gold,’ a retelling of the United States’ men’s basketball team’s journey to gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, offering previously untold stories surrounding Team USA, France, Serbia, and others.

The six-part docuseries released on February 18, and the anecdotes and iconic moments that have emerged are truly game-changing. The show offers a deep look into arguably the greatest congregation of basketball players on the planet, and is a must-see for any NBA or basketball fans.

Here are our favorite moments.

Best moments from Netflix’s ‘Court of Gold’

Tyrese Haliburton getting rejected by Joel Embiid

Moments like the Olympics are perfect opportunities for NBA stars to tempt other stars to join their teams once the tournaments are settled. However, Joel Embiid was having none of it when Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton tried to lure him to the midwest. Embiid said he would rather retire than play in Indiana.

Seeing France’s reaction to Steph Curry’s dagger

Curry’s dagger against France was undoubtedly the best moment of the tournament, and while it’s great to look back on that as Americans, it’s likely disheartening for French people. That said, even the French team had to tip their caps with respect to Curry’s clutch shooting.

Team Serbia getting ‘historically drunk’ after bronze medal game

Anyone who watched the medal ceremony for men’s basketball at the 2024 Olympics remembers just how hammered the Serbian team looked.

Well, that was apparently by design. After their win over Germany in the bronze medal match, the Serbian team wanted to get ‘historically drunk,’ according to ‘Court of Gold.’ Mission accomplished, it seems.

The camaraderie of Steph Curry and LeBron James

Steph Curry and LeBron James have never played on an NBA team together in their careers. In fact, they’ve been bitter rivals for good portions of their careers, facing off against one another in the NBA Finals four years in a row at one point. You would never be able to tell in this documentary, though. The pair worked phenomenally well together during the Olympics, with Curry’s unforgettable shooting spree to win the gold medal match coming because he called a pick-and-roll play with LeBron known as ‘ear-tug.’

Furthermore, LeBron James and Steph Curry joked with one another about returning to the team in 2028 as coaches, with James even jokingly guaranteeing a gold medal if he is the head coach. For all the hard-fought battles those two have had against one another, they clearly have the utmost respect for one another as well.

This story has been updated to reflect the correct release date.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Notre Dame is new No. 1 in women’s college basketball poll

Regular followers of women’s college basketball undoubtedly had two questions in light of the week’s results. The first, of course, concerns who would be the new No. 1 team in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll after UCLA’s first loss of the season.

The answer, perhaps not all that surprisingly, is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had to stave off a Monday night challenge from visiting Duke, but they prevailed and move up from the No. 2 spot claiming 23 of 31 first-place votes. It’s the first No. 1 ranking for the Irish since Jan. 22, 2019. Texas, picked first on five ballots, moves up a notch into the No. 2 position, the highest ranking for the Longhorns since the 2003-04 season.

UCLA drops to No. 3, though the Bruins did retain three first-place nods despite the loss to Southern California. Speaking of the Trojans, they climb to No. 4 after handing their cross-town rivals their first loss.

This brings us to the second question – how far would South Carolina tumble after the rare occurrence of being on the short end of a blowout. Connecticut, which administered said rout to the Gamecocks, moves up to No. 5 as South Carolina slips to sixth. It marks the first non-top five ranking for the Gamecocks since March 2, 2021. LSU, Ohio State, TCU and North Carolina round out the top 10.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By