Despite his impressive body of work CheetahsInterim head coach Steve Wilks was not selected as Carolina’s permanent coach. Work instead Frank went to Reichwho was fired Colts Nine games into the 2022 season.

Douglas Victor, the attorney representing Wilkes in Brian Flores’ pending racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, released a statement after the Panthers announced the hiring of Reich.

“After an incredible job as interim coach, Coach Wilks, including bringing the team back to playoff contention and winning the support of players and fans, we are shocked and concerned that he has been replaced as head coach by David Tepper. .

“There is a legitimate racial problem in the NFL, and we assure you we will have more to say in the coming days.”

Wilkes received rave reviews from Panthers players after replacing Matt Rule after the team’s 1-4 start. The Panthers went 6-6 under Wilkes and finished just short of winning the NFC South division.

That the Panthers have been competitive for so long is a testament to Wilks’ tenure as a longtime defensive assistant. CardinalsHead coach for the 2018 season. Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold said Wilks’ openness has been one of his biggest strengths during his tenure as interim coach.

“I think he can be honest with us, tell us exactly how we’re going to play the game, what we want to do, and not shy away from that.” Darnold said After a Week 14 win over Seattle. “Even if we lost some games, he said early on, it was, ‘Hey, trust the process and trust the game plan.’ If you go into a game knowing that you want to play football, if you get a couple of scores early, you have to believe that and know that the game plan is going to be executed. So I think coach Wilks is doing a good job of sending a message to the team.”

Carolina’s players apparently lobbied for Wilkes late in the 2022 season. Unfortunately for them and Wilkes, their lobbying ultimately fell on deaf ears.

“We’re riding behind Wilkes,” the linebacker Shaq Thompson said Following Carolina’s season-ending victory in Seattle. “He came in here, he’s a real alpha, he’s a real leader and guys follow him.

“He’s done amazing. Look at what we’re doing.”

The lack of minority head coaches was a hot topic a year ago this time, and especially since Dolphins‘Flores and Flores’ firing’ lawsuit against NFL The NFL had three black coaches at the start of the 2022 season. One of those coaches, Lovie Smith, became the third black coach Texans In most years, one day after the end of the regular season.

Last February, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a memo to NFL teams addressing the lack of hiring of minorities.

“We have made significant efforts to promote diversity and adopted many policies and programs that have made a positive difference in many areas, although we have to admit that the results, especially with regard to head coaches, have been unacceptable.” Goodell wrote. “We will re-evaluate and review all policies, guidelines and initiatives related to diversity, equality and inclusion, including those related to gender.”

Two British nationals, Andrew Bagshaw and Chris Barry, left the city of Kramatorsk at 8am on January 6 and headed east towards Ukraine’s front line with Russia, Ukrainian police said.

Their mission was to evacuate an elderly woman in Soledar, a small town where Russian and Ukrainian forces were fighting a brutal battle, according to an aid worker familiar with the matter.

They never returned.

Questions about their fate lingered until Tuesday, when Mr. Barry’s family said in a statement released by the British Foreign Office that “our dear Chrissy” and Mr. Bagshaw confirmed that they were “killed while trying to humanely evacuate them from Solatar”.

“His selfless commitment to helping the elderly, the young and the underprivileged out there has made us and his extended family very proud,” the statement said.

The men’s vehicle is believed to have been hit by artillery fire, although investigations are ongoing, Mr. Paksha’s parents said at a place. News conference. They feared such a decision, but said they were “very proud” of his work.

Mr. Bagshaw, 47, and Mr. Barry, 28, was part of an ad hoc group of foreigners with no combat experience who helped evacuate civilians from the front lines, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Barry and Mr. Paksha’s many exodus Documented By Journalistsincluding Arnaud De Decker, who shared Mr. in Pakmut. Barry’s views A few days before he disappeared.

Their deaths are a stark reminder of the danger faced by those whose work has become a lifeline in the Donbass, where many Ukrainians are trapped in one of the worst war zones Europe has seen since World War II.

January. On 6, the duo “went to a very dangerous address,” said Mr. said Kreskors Rybach, a fellow foreign volunteer who lived with Bagshaw for two weeks in Kramatorsk. “They never came back.”

PMC Wagner, a notorious mercenary fighting on behalf of Russia, claimed to have found one of the men’s bodies a week after they disappeared. Mr. Vaishniakov is a volunteer at the Pavlo Vyshnyakov Foundation, a Kyiv-based charity that sends resources including food and medical supplies to civilians, hospitals and the military. The group posted photos of their passports on Telegram, along with a certificate identifying Barry. groups. The trust declined to comment.

Wagner’s claim could not be verified at the time, and Russian state media claimed, without evidence, that they were mercenaries.

The war in Ukraine is a humanitarian problem. Conditions in some areas are too dangerous for residents to stay, or many international organizations allow their staff to move in, said Abby Stoddart, a humanitarian policy analyst.

So some dangerous evacuations are carried out by independent volunteers – “in other words, people with limited resources to keep people safe,” Ms Stoddard said.

Brian Stern is an American actor who co-founded a humanitarian Rescue operation, described the front-line evacuation efforts in Ukraine as a “free-for-all.” While foreign volunteers come to Ukraine with good intentions, most “don’t know what they’re doing,” he said.

“It’s a really sad story,” he said.

Mr. Barry was a software engineer who loved to travel the world, his family said.

In early January, he said A local BBC station In Cornwall, where he grew up, he “knew nothing” about Ukraine before the invasion but was “obsessed” with helping. He intended to join the foreign fighters but, lacking combat experience, bought a van instead and began working as an evacuation driver last March.

On Instagram Mail A few days after his arrival, Mr. Barry wrote that he dreaded a planned trip to Kharkiv because “everyone I talked to about it believed there was a very strong possibility of my death.”

Mr. Bagshaw was a British geneticist who was between jobs in Christchurch, New Zealand, last spring when he decided to visit Ukraine, wrote a photojournalist who met him. New Zealand Herald In October. His family told reporters he believed it was “the morally right thing to do.”

Mr. translated for the volunteers. Rybak said their temporary operation was largely carried out by a small English-speaking community in Gramadorsk. Mr. Barrio or Mr. He said Pakshao did not speak Ukrainian or Russian.

Ukrainians would contact local aid workers about relatives near Bagmut, and their addresses would be passed on to volunteers who would drive into the conflict zone to evacuate them, often in donated or crowd-funded vehicles. Trips are unpredictable, Mr. Rybak said, sometimes the addresses are empty or residents are resisting moving out.

After the war the men had plans. Mr. Barry had a partner he wanted to marry, Mr. Rybak recalled, and Mr. Bagshaw wanted to continue his scientific career.

“They wanted to live,” he said.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff Contributed report.

Washington
CNN
—

The Approximately 12 classified documents The discovery at former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home includes materials described as background briefing notes prepared for Pence’s foreign trips, multiple sources told CNN.

A source said some of those classified documents may have been used to prepare Pence for foreign meetings while he was vice president and may have been overlooked during the packing process because they were tucked away in old travel binders.

According to another source, unless the bakers go through the binders page by page, classified information materials are not found.

It is not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to be given travel briefing binders that include background notes on people they meet abroad. Sources who spoke to CNN said it sometimes includes basic biographical information about foreign leaders, but sometimes includes more sensitive information.

The FBI works with U.S. intelligence agencies to evaluate the documents, which includes determining how recent the information is, its level of classification, and the potential risks of storing classified material in an unauthorized location.

A source briefed on some of the classified documents told CNN that based on what they were told, there was nothing particularly unusual about the documents and described the classification markings as “low level.” No documents with SCI or SAP markings were mentioned, the two names of some highly sensitive classified materials, the source said.

Top Secret, the highest level of classification, includes a subset of documents known as SCI or classified information reserved for certain information obtained from intelligence sources. Access to an SCI document may be further restricted to a small group of people with specific security permissions.

Another type of sensitive information is classified as sensitive information or classified as SAP or Special Access Program, which requires additional safeguards. Anyone with Top Secret security clearance cannot access information in SAP.

CNN reported earlier this month that classified materials were found in President Joe Biden’s former private office in Washington. Includes US intelligence notes and brief materials from Biden’s tenure as vice president, covering Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom.

Among the items found in Biden’s former office were some documents marked Top Secret with the SCI designation. CNN previously reported.

More than 300 classified documents have been found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, including two boxes Trump’s aides returned to the National Archives and later discovered by the FBI. The FBI’s August search found 18 documents top secret, 54 documents classified and 31 documents confidential, according to court filings.

A batch of classified documents recovered by the FBI in August contained SCI identities Property Receipt Published in court filings.

The United States on Tuesday pledged to strictly monitor how Ukraine spends billions of dollars in aid.

While Washington said it had no evidence of misuse of Western funds, US State Department spokesman Ned Price promised there would be “rigorous monitoring” to ensure US aid was not diverted.

Several senior Ukrainian officials were sacked on Tuesday, accused of improper payments to deputy ministers and overawarding of military contracts.

A total of five regional governors, four deputy ministers and two government agency heads left their posts, along with the deputy head of the presidential administration and the deputy attorney general.

In his nightly speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was “necessary” to maintain “a strong position”, while Price hailed it as “swift” and “essential”.

Yet the scandal comes at a critical time for Kiev, as it seeks ever-increasing support from the West and faces Russian advances in the east.

The scandal could dampen Western enthusiasm for the Ukrainian government, a shaky regime with a long history.

Over the weekend, anti-corruption police arrested the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of accepting 367,000 euros in bribes to buy overpriced generators, a charge he denies.

It comes as the Ukrainian public endures prolonged power outages amid Russian strikes that are crippling the country’s energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian newspaper investigation alleged that the Ministry of Defense had signed contracts to supply food to frontline troops at “two to three” times the usual price.

According to analysts, the high-level resignations show that corruption is not only a criminal but also a political responsibility.

“It’s a good example of how institutions and anti-corruption and checks and balances have been established [2014 Maidan] A revolution of dignity is working even though there is a full-scale war going on,” Kateryna Rysenko of the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International Ukraine told Euronews.

“But the final part of these cases is that these cases should be adjudicated to the full extent of the law by the prosecution, the investigative body and the courts,” he added.

Ukraine’s defense ministry, which reportedly signed high-priced contracts worth €320 million, said the resignations would help “protect the trust of society and international partners”.

On Sunday, it dismissed the allegations as “false information”, warning that they could harm the “interests of security in a special period”.

In January, the leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic blasted Western aid to Ukraine as a “money laundering scheme.”

“I see that some people are worried about foreign aid to Ukraine. Don’t worry! This is a working money laundering scheme. Western and Ukrainian authorities will embezzle these funds, and more than 15% of the total aid will not reach the trenches,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote in Telegram.

There is no evidence from a staunch Putin ally for this claim.

Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 on a promise of wide-ranging reforms to fight corruption and improve the economy.

During his tenure as Ukrainian president, he sacked numerous ministers and officials as he fought the corrupting influence of powerful figures in the country.

Scott Rolen was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, sneaking in the door by a very narrow margin.

Rolan, one of the best third basemen in the game, was named in his sixth year with 76.3% of the votes cast. The only absentee is former Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, who received 72.2% of the vote in his fifth attempt at the election.

None of the other 27 players listed in the 2023 Hall poll cleared the 75 percent minimum for election, though there were a couple of misses. Results of the poll, which was broadcast on MLB.com, were released Tuesday.

Players can appear on the ballot for 10 seasons after a five-year waiting period after their retirement if they are named in at least 5% of the votes during the voting cycle.

“You don’t think about it,” Rollen said on MLB Network. “You just try to do your best, play for your team and play as well as you can, there’s such a long road. I never thought the Hall of Fame would be the answer.”

Rolan was a seven-time All-Star during his 17-year career, playing for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds. His eight Gold Gloves are the fourth most for a third baseman. He was a member of the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year Cardinals when the club won the 2006 World Series.

Rolen, who ranks fifth in WAR among career third basemen according to Baseball-Reference.com, was named to just 10.2% of the vote in his first year of eligibility in 2018, but quickly gained favor in each voting cycle.

When asked about his thoughts on his unusual path to Cooperstown, Rolan offered his comments with his usual humility, “”There was never really a point in my life when I thought I was going to be a Hall of Fame baseball player. .”

Still, in the first year of voting, Rollen remained hopeful of remaining on the ballot, and when he cleared the 5% barrier, he told his young son, “We won.”

Online tracking was above 75% all winter, but was close enough to make the outcome uncertain because those figures often fall when the final numbers are released due to ballots not made public.

Rolan said he didn’t track trackers because he didn’t need them: his family and friends kept him well informed, “blowing up” his phone every time the numbers changed.

Part of the reason Rolen’s case gained momentum so quickly was because he stood out in advanced metrics that ranked him ninth among third basemen, according to Battle.

Rollen said he didn’t follow through until he studied advanced numbers long after he retired, benefiting from higher ratings for him on defense and base running. It is no coincidence that he shined in those areas.

“I pride myself on defense and base running,” Rollen said. “Those are two aspects that I can contribute to on the pitch on a daily basis.”

The same upward trajectory applies to Helton, which started 2019 at 16.5%. A .316 career hitter in 17 seasons spent with the Colorado Rockies, Helton was a four-time Silver Slugger winner and three-time Gold Slugger. Glover for his work on the first floor.

Billy Wagner (68.1%), Andrew Jones (58.1%) and Gary Sheffield (55%) were the other players named in at least half of the vote.

One of the most dominant relievers of his era, Wagner has continued to receive support. Last year he received 51% of the vote. Next year will be his ninth season of eligibility.

Rollen’s narrow election — he cleared the 75% barrier by just five votes — means the BBWAA has declined to elect new members nine more times in its voting history. The writers didn’t pick anyone in 2021, and last year, Red Sox great David Ortiz was the only one picked by the writers.

The three-year span in which the BBWAA has selected two players is the shortest span in history. Since the annual ballot became permanent in 1966, writers have never failed to select at least two players in any three-year period. In the three years ending in 1968 and in each season from 1996 to 1998, they selected just two players.

Ironically, the dearth of electors comes after a period of years in which writers vote. In the three-year period ending in 2019, the BBWAA elected 11 new Hall members and in the five-year period from 2015 to 2019, 17 new Hall of Famers were elected by the writers.

Unlike in 2021, when the new Hall of Famers are not selected by the writers or an era committee — the first time since 1960 — at least two new inductees will speak at the July 23 induction ceremonies in Cooperstown. The soft-spoken Fred McGriff will join Rolan in the hall after being elected by an all-time committee at the Winter Meetings in San Diego in December.

“I thought he should have been around a long time ago,” Rollen said of his Hall classmate, who retired after the 2004 season.

Progress has been slow for some more controversial candidates, whose performance meets traditional Hall of Fame standards but whose cases have been undermined by connections to PEDs.

Alex Rodriguez, who had a career high of 3,115 hits, 696 homers and 2,086 RBIs, was named with 35.7% of the vote, up from 34.3% during his second year of eligibility. Rodriguez missed the 2014 season under suspension for violating MLB’s PED policies.

Similarly, Manny Ramirez, who hit 555 homers while rolling a .312 career batting average but was suspended twice for PED violations, made a slight improvement in his seventh season at the polls. After dropping to 28.9% last year, Ramirez improved to 33.2% this time around.

Instead, the frighteningly lazy Sheffield picked up some momentum in his ninth year of eligibility. Last year he was 40.6%. Sheffield, who hit 509 homers but was named in the 2007 Mitchell Report, was never disciplined for PED use. Next season will be his 10th and final chance to win the election via the writers’ ballot.

Of the 14 first-choice candidates in the poll, only two received the 5% support needed to be considered for the next round.

One of those first-timers was Carlos Beltran, who landed with 46.5% of the vote. Beltran’s Hall case is solid on the merits of a career that saw 435 homers, 312 steals, 2,725 hits and one of baseball’s most dazzling postseason records.

Beltran was a key figure in the controversial identity-theft scandal that tarnished the Houston Astros’ 2017 World Series title, for which Beltran played. His association with controversy later led to his resignation as manager of the New York Mets before his first season in the role.

While it’s uncertain what role the scandal played in Beltran’s first-ballot miss, his endorsement status bodes well for the future and, perhaps, the candidacies of other standouts on that Astros team.

The other first baseman to remain on the ballot was reliever Francisco Rodriguez, whose 437 saves were enough to earn him 10.8% of the vote.

While voters have been stingy in recent years, next year could see a more active intake week, and many more interesting candidates will qualify. Third baseman Adrian Beltre, catcher Joe Mauer and second baseman Chase Woodley lead the list of freshmen.

Michael Yeoh was on a Zoom call Tuesday with his “Everything Everything All at Ones” family — including his co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Kay Hui Kwan and James Hong, and directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan — when he got the news. Her “burst with joy”: She was nominated for Best Actress for her role as a cantankerous laundry owner in the film, a sci-fi acid trip through time, space and the human experience.

“Even though they’re in America and I’m in Paris right now we want to hold each other’s hands so we’re screaming at the top of our heads,” she said by phone shortly after the nominations were announced. Not surprisingly: “Everywhere and Everything at Once” led the day with 11 nominations, including Best Picture.

Should she win, Yes – who was born in Malaysia and became a movie star in Asia, with global hits in films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) – is the first Asian woman to win the lead. Actress Oscar. (She beat her First Golden Globe earlier this month.)

“Ninety-five years of the Oscars,” he said. “Of course, I’m over the moon, but I feel a little sad because we know there have been amazing actresses from Asia before me, and I’m standing on their shoulders.” He added, “I believe this will continue to break that cold glass ceiling endlessly, and we’ll see more and more of it in our faces.”

Yeoh, 60, released last March and became a surprise box office hit amid the pandemic, which resonated in part because it came “at a time when we all need to heal.”

She explained, “We’ve gone through such a crazy, confusing time in our lives, and we needed something to fill us with hope and to make sure we never give up, as long as we can show kindness and compassion and love to each other. On your family.”

Hopes are high for the actress who earlier in the week responded to the mass shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., an Asian American community where Lunar New Year celebrations take place. “At a time when our society should be celebrating new beginnings, we are now mourning,” she posted on Instagram.

When asked about his appointment at a sad time, he said, “One thing we all need is hope,” he said, “that we can always keep our heads up and move forward. Our hearts are so broken for what happened in Monterey Park.

At the heart of the film is a rich mother-daughter relationship, as two characters struggle to navigate very different everyday realities (and very different non-interdimensional realities). Yeo wasn’t surprised that this dynamic resonated with many viewers, but she was touched by its power to heal. Older women have come to him saying that even though they don’t understand the film, it has helped their relationships with their daughters.

Yow recalled a visitor who said her estranged daughter had contacted her after years of not speaking. “We’re now bonded, we’ve got a relationship because of your movie,” Yow recalled the woman saying. “Sometimes when a movie like this comes along, you feel like you’ve cured people, and that’s an amazing award.”

For Yoo, a former stuntwoman who has worked in the industry for decades, “Everything” was a showcase for her many talents. It’s bittersweet to reflect on his long career, “But, other times, I love what I do. I’m passionate about film acting and everything. So, you don’t do it for awards. You do it because you want to put the best out there.

“But sure, please give me an Oscar, man,” she laughed. “It’s a tribute to, never give up. If you believe in yourself, you never give up. It took me 40 years, but it’s here.

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