The Celtics blew a 15-point second half lead and fell to a shorthanded Hawks 117-116 on Tuesday night time to win their opening matchup of pool play in Group C of the Emirates NBA Cup. The Celtics had been 16.5 level favorites coming into the sport.

Boston shook off a sluggish begin to seemingly take management of the sport within the second quarter, constructing a double-digit lead at half behind 20 factors from Jaylen Brown and 14 factors from Derrick White. The Hawks performed with out 4 rotation gamers for the matchup together with All-Star guard Trae Younger, main them to begin two-way guard Keaton Wallace and play at an obstacle all night time lengthy.

The Celtics led by as many as 15 factors within the second half however the Hawks erased that deficit behind dominating within the paint with 68-32 edge down low over Boston together with 18 second likelihood factors. Onyeka Okongwu hit a go-ahead outback within the last minute whereas Jaylen Brown (team-high 37 factors) missed a possible game-winner as time expired. Derrick White additionally added 31 factors within the setback for the hosts whereas Dyson Daniels led 5 totally different Hawks in double figures with 28 factors.

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Boston had their two-game successful streak snapped and fell to 9-3 on the 12 months. Boston’s subsequent NBA Cup sport will come towards the Cleveland Cavaliers subsequent Tuesday night time at TD Backyard.

The Celtics may have a fast turnaround on Wednesday night time, going through off with the Brooklyn Nets for the second time this month at Barclays Middle.

Listed below are 4 takeaways on the Celtics on Tuesday night time:

Jaylen Brown finds his offensive groove after hip points: The All-Star struggled along with his offensive rhythm in his return following a four-game absence in Milwaukee, going simply 4-of-13 from the sector in 37 minutes. Brown appeared much more snug towards a lackluster Hawks protection. He erupted for 16 first quarter factors and led all scorers with 20 at halftime whereas going 7-of-12 from the sector. The small ahead did most of his injury from contained in the arc early however did knock down a pair of key 3s within the fourth quarter. Brown additionally feasted within the paint towards Atlanta, attending to the free throw line 10 occasions and going 11-of-15 from contained in the arc. He did battle along with his free throw capturing (6-of-10) late within the fourth quarter.

A shock rotation tweak by Joe Mazzulla: Historically, the Celtics have cut up up relaxation time for his or her two stars. Most of this 12 months, Tatum has performed the complete first quarter whereas Brown has taken a relaxation within the last couple of minutes of the body. Nevertheless, with Brown in such an awesome first quarter rhythm on Tuesday night time, Mazzulla elected to roll with each of his stars for the complete first quarter, the primary time that’s occurred through the common season of their careers in keeping with NBC stats guru Dick Lipe. The transfer labored out properly as Boston’s reserves held their very own beside Derrick White and Jrue Vacation to begin the second quarter. It will likely be intriguing to see whether or not this was an anomaly or an choice that Mazzulla may flip to extra usually to assist his stars get into an early sport rhythm.

Celtics cope with uncommon bout of sloppiness that bites them: The Celtics watched their 15-point second half lead get erased halfway by way of the fourth quarter and will solely blame themselves for his or her struggles. The staff piled up a season-high 20 turnovers, a really uncharacteristic quantity given their previous-high on the 12 months was 15. Most of these miscues got here method of careless passes and Boston’s stars had been entrance and heart for these woes, piling up 9 turnovers mixed. The Hawks scored 19 factors off these Boston turnovers, serving to to maintain them within the sport all night time regardless of a tough 3-point capturing night time.

The Hawks could have gained the Dejounte Murray commerce already: It’s solely been ten video games and an harm to Murray with the Pelicans could affect my verdict right here considerably however it’s arduous to not like what Atlanta bought within the deal for Murray. Dyson Daniels appears to be like like a keeper already for his defensive potential at age 21 regardless of a dependable 3-point stroke. Throw up two extra first spherical picks and a serviceable backup in Larry Nance Jr. and it’s an awesome return for breaking apart a backcourt duo in Murray and Trae Younger that wasn’t going anyplace anytime quickly.

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The chief government of Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500bn futuristic improvement within the desert, has been abruptly changed after six years in command of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship mission.

The corporate mentioned on Tuesday that Nadhmi al-Nasr, a veteran former official of state-controlled oil large Saudi Aramco, had left his position.

It gave no cause for his departure, which comes because the Public Funding Fund, which controls Neom, comes underneath strain to ship on a sequence of mega-projects throughout the dominion.

Nasr’s tenure was usually marked by controversy as he oversaw the extremely bold improvement that has drawn scepticism inside and out of doors the dominion.

Aiman Al-Mudaifer, head of the native actual property division on the PIF, the dominion’s sovereign wealth fund, will step in as performing chief government, Neom mentioned. The corporate is a PIF subsidiary.

“As Neom enters a brand new part of supply, this new management will guarantee operational continuity, agility and effectivity to match the general imaginative and prescient and aims of the mission,” the corporate mentioned.

Neom is the centrepiece of an enormous financial transformation programme that Prince Mohammed launched in 2016 to assist diversify the financial system and wean the dominion off its dependence on oil revenues. It’s situated within the desert close to the Purple Coastline and near Jordan and Egypt.

Prince Mohammed first unveiled the thought for Neom in 2017 with the promise of a brand new idea of city residing based mostly absolutely on renewable power and the place robots would outnumber people.

Completely different components of the initiatives had been introduced within the intervening years, together with a linear metropolis referred to as The Line, an industrial port and a ski resort referred to as Trojena that’s set to host the Asian Winter Video games in 2029.

Neom is considered one of a number of big initiatives developed as a part of the dominion’s financial diversification plan. Vacationer resorts within the Purple Sea and Neom’s Sindalah island have lately opened, whereas different schemes stay underneath development.

Typically described because the phrase’s largest development mission, Neom has struggled to satisfy bold expectations and seen a number of management modifications lately.

Klaus Kleinfeld, former CEO of Siemens and Alcoa, was the primary head of Neom however was quickly changed by Nasr, who had a repute for fast supply of main infrastructure initiatives whereas at power group Saudi Aramco, however confronted criticism for his hard-charging managerial fashion.

The corporate has seen the departure of a number of western executives. Wayne Borg, head of Neom’s media unit, was changed in September.

Extra reporting by Andrew England in London

The Cleveland Cavaliers tackle the Philadelphia 76ers later tonight. First, let’s get into the information and hyperlinks of the day.

The primary sip

The NBA Cup group stage doesn’t start for the Cavs till Friday after they host the Chicago Bulls. However their path to attending to Las Vegas simply turned a lot clearer.

The Cavaliers are in Jap Convention Group C with the Bulls, Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, and Washington Wizards. The Celtics are the Cavs’ major competitors throughout the group and the convention at massive. Boston’s loss to Atlanta final evening gives a neater means for Cleveland to get out of the group stage and knockout spherical.

Head-to-head document is the primary tiebreaker in group play. If the Cavs lose to the Celtics subsequent Tuesday, and each groups end 3-1, the Celtics would have the benefit. Nevertheless, if three groups end at 3-1, then the tie-breaker could be level differential. The Cavs might win the group in that state of affairs if they will accumulate a greater level differential towards groups just like the Wizards and Bulls.

The loss to the Hawks additionally permits the Cavs to basically get rid of the Celtics on Tuesday with a win. It’s unlikely {that a} workforce with two losses would advance out of the group stage and much more unlikely that they’d be a wild card workforce. That might open up a transparent path for the Cavs to advance to Las Vegas as the remainder of the convention is struggling. This wouldn’t have been the state of affairs if the Celtics beat the Hawks.

Subsequent Tuesday’s recreation towards the Celtics was at all times going to be necessary. It nonetheless is. The Cavs now have extra room for error and a higher reward for profitable.

NBA schedule right this moment

• Pacers vs. Magic – 7 PM
• Cavs vs. 76ers – 7:30 PM
• Celtics vs. Nets – 7:30 PM
• Bulls vs. Knicks – 7:30 PM
• Pelicans vs. Thunder – 7:30 PM, ESPN
• Clippers vs. Rockers – 8 PM
• Pistons vs. Bucks – 8 PM
• Wizards vs. Spurs – 8 PM
• Grizzlies vs. Lakers – 10 PM, ESPN
• Timberwolves vs. Path Blazers – 10 PM
• Suns vs. Kings – 10 PM

Podcasts

Me and Tony Pesta mentioned what we’ve seen from the Cavs over the previous few video games on The Junkyard Pod. You may watch that beneath or hearken to it HERE.

Hyperlinks of the day

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria is searching for a $5 billion commerce facility from Saudi Arabia to shore up capital for its financial reform program. 

The West African nation desires a take care of the Saudi authorities on the ability, Nigeria’s presidency mentioned in a press release Tuesday after President Bola Tinubu met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on the sidelines of the joint Arab-Islamic Summit. No additional particulars got.

The crown prince assured Nigeria of its assist for its financial reform packages, the presidency mentioned. “The 2 leaders explored potential areas for cooperation, notably oil and fuel, agriculture, infrastructure and the structure of the Saudi-Nigeria Enterprise Council.”  

Nigeria first flagged the proposed funding a 12 months in the past, when the 2 nations shaped a Nigeria-Saudi Arabia Enterprise Council. Nigerian Funds and Financial Planning Minister Abubakar Atiku Bagudu mentioned on the time that he anticipated to see “vital funding” flows from Saudi Arabia.

Since turning into president of Africa’s greatest oil producer in Might 2023, Tinubu has applied a collection of financial reforms aimed toward attracting overseas capital to assist speed up development. Nigeria is the continent’s most-populous nation, with virtually 225 million folks — 40% of whom reside under the nationwide poverty line.

Tinubu mentioned final month that the reforms have attracted greater than $30 billion in overseas direct funding within the West African nation.

In Might, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and to discover potential funding alternatives in Nigerian agriculture and commerce, in line with Nigeria’s info ministry. In November 2023, the 2 nations additionally mentioned alternatives in expertise, telecommunications, oil and fuel, and mining.

–With help from Anthony Osae-Brown and Alister Bull.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Benny Blanco, the Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer, was lately featured in Folks Journal‘s 2024 “Sexiest Man Alive” concern, alongside together with his artwork assortment.

Blanco was photographed by the journal in his dwelling in Los Angeles. In a single {photograph}, Blanco is featured on his eating room desk subsequent to a plate of nachos, framed entrance of the George Rental portrait The Musician.

“I sort of assume it seems like me,” he advised Architectural Digest earlier this yr, in reference to the Rental portray. “I identical to having artwork all around the home, as a result of I don’t know what emotion the particular person had once they have been making it, however I see sure issues once I stroll previous it and it’d encourage me and I would take a look at it in another way one other day and be like, holy shit, like, I by no means observed that one, like, stroke there or, like, that imperfection proper there and I don’t know, it makes me pleased.”

Along with the Rental portray, the Architectural Digest profile on Blanco’s dwelling showcased his in depth artwork assortment, which he described as “high-low.” Modern artists function closely—Martin Wong, Nicholas Devlin, Amia Yokoyama, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol, simply to call just a few—with a scattering of recent artists like Salvador Dali. Additionally noticed was a plate embellished by the youngsters of Jonas Wooden; a chair sculpture made out of baguettes by Lola Abbey; a tall ceramic by Jasmine Little, Raul Nieves’s Gargoyle 2 wall sculpture; Tomory Dodge’s portray Association, in addition to a white bear bench from AP Assortment. A number of plush flowers by Takashi Murakami embellish an oversize brown sectional in Blanco’s TV room.

Blanco additionally attended the Frieze Los Angeles artwork honest in 2022.

CNN
 — 

President-elect Donald Trump introduced Tuesday that he has chosen John Ratcliffe to function his CIA director.

Ratcliffe had been excessive on the checklist of potential legal professional common candidates, sources advised CNN. He at the moment serves as co-chair on the Heart for American Safety on the America First Coverage Institute, a Trump-linked assume tank.

Ratcliffe, a former consultant from Texas, served because the director of nationwide intelligence from 2020 to 2021 throughout Trump’s first time period – and his appointment served as a key argument for critics who believed that Trump was utilizing the intelligence neighborhood to serve his political wants.

Throughout his tenure as spy chief, Ratcliffe publicly launched unverified details about Russia’s affect within the 2016 presidential election over the objection of members of the intelligence neighborhood. Critics claimed on the time that Ratcliffe was utilizing intelligence to assist Trump politically because the 2020 presidential election approached.

Trump touted Ratcliffe’s loyalty Tuesday, saying in his announcement:“From exposing pretend Russian collusion to be a Clinton marketing campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties on the FISA Court docket, John Ratcliffe has all the time been a warrior for Reality and Honesty with the American Public.”

A CIA official advised CNN on Tuesday that the company is “dedicated to making sure a easy transition.”

Trump initially picked Ratcliffe to be director of nationwide intelligence in 2019, however the Texas conservative withdrew after questions emerged about exaggerations to his nationwide safety resume and his partisan document. Trump re-nominated him in 2020 after Ratcliffe emerged as a key defender of the president in the course of the Home’s first impeachment proceedings. The Senate later voted 49-44 alongside occasion strains to verify him.

Ratcliffe stayed within the position in the course of the 2020 election and presidential transition, throughout which he personally advised Trump and his allies that there was no proof of international election interference or widespread fraud. Years later, he was compelled to testify concerning the expertise to a federal grand jury as a part of particular counsel Jack Smith’s legal probe into the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Ratcliffe represented Texas’ 4th Congressional District from 2015 to 2020 and held posts on the Home Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.

This story has been up to date with extra reporting.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.

Selena Gomez is one fortunate woman. The billionaire actor and sweetness mogul’s long-term boyfriend Benny Blanco simply opened up about his relationship, and it looks as if he places loads of effort into being a delightfully unhazardous man. He’s, in reality, a romantic.

“I’m an actual morning particular person. It’s my favourite time to spend with Sel, as a result of we each get up actually early. It’s like our second earlier than the remainder of the world wakes up,” he gushed to Folks for his or her “Sexiest Man Alive” problem. “I’ve a real greatest buddy that I get to do all the things on this planet with, and every single day is the very best day of my life.”

His recommendation is straightforward however efficient. For starters, “Attempt to be chivalrous: Inform her how fairly she is. Chivalry’s not lifeless.”

After which there’s this: “I’m going all out for each date. We go all out for one another. One time Sel was like, ‘Oh, I wish to take you on a date.’ We drove someplace and he or she had rented out an entire botanical backyard for me. She additionally likes one thing so easy. For Valentine’s Day, I obtained her Taco Bell, I made her movie-theater nachos, I discovered her favourite pickles from Texas and I deep-fried them for her. Then [I had] all her candies and Scorching Cheetos,” he continued, including, “It doesn’t imply spending your whole checking account. The primary factor you have to do on a date is simply hearken to what the particular person’s saying. Don’t speak about your self the entire time. Nobody cares.”

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President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as director of the Central Intelligence Company, the Trump-Vance transition staff introduced Tuesday.

Ratcliffe, a fierce defender of the president-elect, represented Texas’ 4th Congressional District within the northeastern a part of the state till he was tapped to function Trump’s director of nationwide intelligence in 2020. His congressional seat was crammed by U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman.

“John Ratcliffe has all the time been a warrior for Fact and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump mentioned in a press release. “He can be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Individuals, whereas guaranteeing the Highest Ranges of Nationwide Safety, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”

The Republican-controlled Senate might want to verify Ratcliffe’s nomination when Trump takes workplace.

If confirmed, based on the announcement, Ratcliffe would grow to be the primary individual to have led each the CIA and nationwide intelligence. The CIA director manages the company’s actions — together with intelligence assortment, evaluation of international threats and covert motion campaigns — and reviews to the director of nationwide intelligence, who oversees the broader U.S. intelligence group.

Ratcliffe earned a popularity as one in every of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, defending the president throughout his impeachment hearings, serving to push investigations into Hunter Biden and gaining notoriety for berating former particular counsel Robert Mueller throughout a congressional listening to.

He’s among the many first Texans tapped by Trump to serve in his second administration, out of a protracted listing of Texas Republicans with shut ties to the president-elect.

Trump additionally tapped billionaire Elon Musk, who lives in Texas, to move a “Division of Authorities Effectivity,” or DOGE, on Tuesday alongside former GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy. DOGE, Trump mentioned, would “present recommendation and steering from exterior of Authorities” to “drive massive scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial strategy to Authorities by no means seen earlier than.”

Ratcliffe’s preliminary nomination to move nationwide intelligence was scuttled in 2019 after he withdrew his title for consideration amid a report by The Washington Submit that he had exaggerated elements of his biography, together with his position because the chief of an immigration crackdown whereas he was a federal prosecutor within the Jap District of Texas. Democrats additionally opposed his nomination, arguing he was not certified to supervise the intelligence group and elevating issues that he would use the place to Trump’s political profit.

Ratcliffe’s nomination to nationwide intelligence director received assist from Republicans, together with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who mentioned on the time that Ratcliffe had the “private integrity and intelligence to have the ability to perceive the distinction between being a legislator and being the Director of Nationwide Intelligence.”

Ratcliffe defended his report, and Trump put him up for the job once more a number of months after he took himself out of rivalry. He was confirmed by the Senate, 49-44, in 2020.

“John did a superb job as DNI and I’ve each confidence he’ll lead the CIA higher than anybody in historical past,” Fallon mentioned in a textual content message on Tuesday after the announcement.

In June 2022, the U.S. Home committee investigating the occasions main as much as the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol revealed that Ratcliffe had warned White Home staffers towards pursuing efforts to overturn the 2020 election forward of the revolt.

“It felt it was harmful for the president’s legacy,” former White Home staffer Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned of Ratcliffe’s mindset in testimony to the panel. “He had expressed to me he was involved it may spiral uncontrolled and probably be harmful both for our democracy or the way in which issues have been going for [Jan.] 6.”

Ratcliffe was employed in 2004 as an assistant federal prosecutor within the Jap District of Texas, the place he was named chief of anti-terrorism. He was additionally elected mayor of Heath, a suburb simply east of Dallas, the place he had began a regulation apply.