Author: Press Room

Predictable. Compelling. Depressing. Exciting. Indicative of future tournaments that will lack the charm America has grown to love. Indicative of a weekend ahead that will thrill American basketball lovers.Take your pick and acknowledge two truths. One, the men’s NCAA Tournament Final Four will feature all No. 1 seeds for the first time since 2008 — also a San Antonio Final Four — and the second time since seeding began in 1979. Two, one of those No. 1 seeds is not like the others.We’re well past the stage of fretting about lost underdog stories. Check back next year as trends are…

The U.S. fired a new round of sanctions at China on Monday, targeting six high-level Chinese and Hong Kong officials over what it described as acts of transnational repression for their crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and on U.S. soil.The move was the first significant step by the new Trump administration to pressure China over human rights in Hong Kong. The State Department said in a statement that the officials used the city’s national security laws “to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who had been forced to flee overseas, including a U.S. citizen and four other…

Nearly all employees at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an agency created by Congress to support American museums and libraries, were put on administrative leave Monday, according to a Trump administration official. An IMLS employee and a union representing them said all employees were put on leave, but an administration official said 20% of IMLS employees were not.The move still impacted about 80% of IMLS’ roughly 77-employee staff.  Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the agency, as well as six other governmental entities, to be reduced to “the minimum presence.” A few weeks…

Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic House leader, on Monday accused Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas of deliberately delaying a special election in a solidly Democratic district in Houston in order to cushion the House Republicans’ slim majority.Mr. Jeffries said in an interview that Mr. Abbott had been “feverishly working to deny representation to the people of Houston” and to help Republicans in the House pass a budget favored by President Trump that is expected to include cuts to Medicaid and other services.“House Republicans are running scared legislatively and politically, which is why Gov. Greg Abbott is slow-walking…

Katanning-born Shai Bolton has tasted his first victory in Fremantle colours, as the Dockers produced a powerful display on Sunday to claim the western derby over West Coast.Bolton was traded back home to WA last year after 135 games and two premierships with Richmond.The 26-year-old did not play for the Dockers in round one due to injury but made his debut for the club in the narrow loss to Sydney last week.Camera IconDockers star Shai Bolton rises high to mark. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty ImagesBolton was lively in the 38-point derby win at Optus Stadium, collecting 21 disposals, three marks and…

BANGKOK: Aid groups arriving in the worst-hit areas of Myanmar said there was an urgent need for shelter, food and water after last week’s devastating quake, which killed more than 2,000 people, including 50 preschoolers in one school. The 7.7 magnitude quake, which hit around lunchtime on Friday (Mar 28), was the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century, toppling ancient pagodas and modern buildings alike. In neighbouring Thailand, rescuers pressed on searching for life in the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper in the capital Bangkok. In Myanmar’s Mandalay area, 50 preschoolers and two teachers…

Bardiya, Nepal – Bali, unlike most girls around her, never liked to sing and dance. She loved cars and dreamed of how it would feel to wrap her fingers around the wheel and leave her village behind in the rearview mirror. But her dream was cut short on her sixth birthday when she was sold into servitude by her parents. For five years, she scrubbed dishes, cleaned floors and worked the fields for a family from a higher caste than her own. The caste system, prevalent across South Asia, is a centuries-old social hierarchy that continues to shape society: People…

Variety, ambition and ingenuity are on generous display at theaters throughout the United States this spring, with a healthy crop of new shows, a lauded Kinks musical making its North American debut and one friend of Paddington starring in a Chekhov play. These dozen productions are worth putting on your radar.‘Here There Are Blueberries’A cache of photos of Nazis who built and ran the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II is the starting point for this historically inspired production from Tectonic Theater Project (“The Laramie Project”). A finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize, it feels like a companion piece…

Legendary television actor Richard Chamberlain, known as the king of the miniseries for his roles in “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds,” has died at the age of 90, his publicist Harlan Boll confirmed to CBS News.The actor died Saturday, March 29, in Waimanalo, Hawai’i of complications following a stroke. He was two days shy of his 91st birthday.”Our beloved Richard is with the angles now,” his longtime partner, Martin Rabbett, said in a statement. “He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never…

The idea of getting her eldest child a smartphone had long felt inevitable, said Daisy Greenwell. But by early last year, when her daughter was 8 years old, it filled her with dread. When she talked to other parents, “everyone universally said, ‘Yes, it’s a nightmare, but you’ve got no choice,’” recalled Ms. Greenwell, 41.She decided to test that. A friend, Clare Fernyhough, had shared her concerns about the addictive qualities of smartphones and the impact of social media on mental health, so they created a WhatsApp group to strategize. Then Ms. Greenwell, who lives in rural Suffolk, in the…