She’s OK, even after her Cyclones lost, though. MORE: Coach K apologizes to Oregon | Who’s playing now? “The social media attention has been insane,” Coker wrote in a text message to The Des Moines Register. “My friends reached out to me first and said they hoped I didn’t become a meme.” She and her friends searched Twitter and saw all kinds of reaction. She also found a picture of herself from before the incident and took to Twitter to show her sense of humor....

Mitrou-Long, who had surgery on his left hip on April 1 and his right hip on May 7, averaged 12 points in 31.6 minutes through the No. 5 Cyclones’ first eight games. MORE: Midseason transfers make no sense | Watch Monmouth teach us how to pefect bench celebrations “Naz came to me recently and explained his desire to sit out the remainder of this season and seek a medical hardship,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said in the statement....

Branstad tried to oust then-Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey, a Democrat, from his position and the court ruled there was no evidence Branstad knew Godfrey was gay prior to pushing for his resignation in 2011 and significantly decreasing his salary. A 2019 verdict found Branstad guilty of violating the Iowa Civil Rights Act and Godfrey was awarded $1.5 worth of compensation for emotional distress, according to the Associated Press....

An initial public offering (the real words behind IPO) marks the first time a company sells its shares to the public. The opening price is generally set around 15 or 20 percent below the hoped-for market price, says Ian Zwicker, president of the online investment banking firm WR Hambrecht, in San Francisco. That leaves room for a quick and profitable pop, when the stock starts to trade. Pop, schmop. Prices last year ascended on rockets, scattering stars....

Nuclear intelligence, however, is problematic. Despite all the high-tech gear that intelligence agencies have developed, facts on the ground are so thin that the whole question of what countries like Iran are doing with nuclear weapons is vulnerable to manipulation by policymakers. Who can forget how Condoleezza Rice, as head of the National Security Council in September 2002, declared that the United States could not let the “smoking gun” of Iraq’s nuclear program become a mushroom cloud?...

Iran’s defense ministry announced Fakhrizadeh’s death on Friday. The scientist was in charge of the Ministry of Defense’s Research and Innovation Organization. The ministry said he died after a clash between his security team and assailants. “Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice—with serious indications of Israeli role—shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators,” Zarif tweeted, commenting on the assassination. “Iran calls on int’l community—and especially EU—to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror,” he wrote....

In a virtual address delivered to graduating military cadets, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lambasted the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, referring to the U.S. leader as a “scoundrel” whose policies were hurting the peoples of both countries. For Iran, Khamenei said the answer to the country’s woes lies from within, not from abroad. “Although many of our problems are related to international issues, their remedy exists inside the country,” Khamanei said....

“Iran has proven that it will not succumb to intimidation and threats, nor will it hesitate to defend its territory, in accordance with international law, from any and all aggressions,” Iranian mission to the United Nations spokesperson Alireza Miryousefi told Newsweek. Trump’s threat came one week after armed Iranian Revolutionary Guard fast-attack craft engaged in what the U.S. Navy called “unsafe and professional actions” by approaching and circling warships of the Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf....

Tensions are once again on the rise between Washington and Tehran following this weekend’s attack on vital Saudi oil infrastructure. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen—who have been fighting against a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 as part of the country’s civil war—have claimed responsibility for the strike, but U.S. officials have instead pointed the finger at Iran. Diplomatic efforts by French President Emmanuel Macron had raised hopes that Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani might at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, but the operation against the Saudis seems to have torpedoed the proposal....

The women of Iran have emerged as the dominant force in the protests, and are taking matters into their own hands, bringing together various critical elements of society all insisting on change. Protests broke out in mid-September, after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in police custody following her arrest by Iran’s Guidance Patrol, also known as the Morality Police, for allegedly defying the Islamic Republic’s conservative laws. In response to the mass anger, the Iranian regime fiercely cracked down on anti-government demonstrations, killing 287 protesters as of October 31 and arresting more than 14,000 people, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)....

Addressing the state of the Persian Gulf during a virtual conference Wednesday, Islamic Consultative Assembly Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf railed against the presence of foreign forces, which, he said, “led by the United States, has eroded economic opportunities in the region and beyond.” He accused these forces, which include the eight-nation International Maritime Security Construct patrolling Persian Gulf waters as well as a 34-nation Combined Maritime Forces partnership, of pursuing ulterior motives not conducive to maintaining security and stability in one of the world’s most critical maritime traffic passageways....

Spain were made to work for it but Diego Costa’s rather fortunate goal has given La Roja their first victory of the 2018 World Cup. Iran worked hard defensively and thought they had their moment in the second half but VAR ruled it out for offside, although there’s no complaints as it was the correct decision. FULL-TIME: IRAN 0-1 SPAIN 90+2 mins: YELLOW CARD! A late yellow card for Ebrahimi, who lunges in and concedes a foul....

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that once sanctions are lifted, the country will return to “full implementation” of the nuclear deal, titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has been violating the terms of the 2015 deal, after former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. “Once sanctions (are) verifiably lifted, we’ll return to full implementation of the JCPOA,” Araghchi said....

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hasn’t made the job of hunting him any easier. Last week U.S. forces launched a massive raid in Sadr City, targeting Abu Deraa. The attack reportedly killed two of his sons, but he escaped. Concerned about the political implications, Maliki ordered U.S. troops to end the assault and then dismantle the checkpoints they had set up to net Abu Deraa if he tried to slip away....

Crocker needs no reminders. That is why he and his military counterpart, Gen. David Petraeus, are in Iraq now: to salvage a mission that seems increasingly hopeless. Both men are extraordinarily perceptive, pragmatic and comprehensive thinkers. If they fail, it’s hard to imagine who could do better. Crocker’s last stint in Iraq was as Coalition Provisional Authority governance director in the summer of 2003. “One of the major problems—and I see it starkly coming back here—is the corrosion that sectarian violence has created and the damage it’s done to how people relate to one another,” he says....

After four and half years, British troops officially handed over responsibility for Basra to the Iraqi government on Sunday. There wasn’t much fanfare: a handful of government officials, including National Security Adviser Mowaffaq Rubaie and Basra Governor Mohammed Waeli were on hand. British foreign secretary David Miliband flew out for the occasion, and Maj. Gen. Graham Binns, the commander who marched troops into Basra in spring 2003 (a coincidence he said was “especially poignant”), presided over the official handover....

As part of a final flurry of foreign policy moves lashing out at foes of President Donald Trump’s administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo branded Popular Mobilization Forces deputy commander Abdulaziz al-Muhammadawi, also known as Abu Fadak, a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” on Wednesday. In addition to his previously leading the “Iran-backed terrorist organization” Kataib Hezbollah, Pompeo alleged he was “separately working in conjunction with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force to reshape official Iraqi state security institutions away from their true purpose of defending the Iraqi state and fighting ISIS....

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein spoke via telephone Wednesday with U.S.-led NATO Western military alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, discussing “ways to continue cooperation between Iraq and NATO within the framework of the full sovereignty of Iraq and the decisions of the Iraqi government” in their joint security mission that emerged after the rapid rise of ISIS in 2014. Stoltenberg emphasized that NATO’s presence is “limited to aspects of training and providing logistical support to the Iraqi forces and security services,” and the pair “also agreed to continue coordination in a way that enhances the joint confrontation against ISIS terrorist gangs....

The Independent High Electoral Commission announced preliminary results Monday that indicated 41 percent of eligible voters went to cast their ballots at the polls Sunday, down from the previous record low of 44 percent in the 2018 elections. In late 2019 and early 2020, tens of thousands of activists and demonstrators took to the streets in Baghdad and southern Iraq to call for broad reforms and new elections, AP reported....

The tracking comes as the Atlantic population of great white sharks start making their way south on their annual migration. According to a tracker from Ocean research organization OCEARCH, Ironbound, who measures 12 feet and four inches, is not far from the Pollock Rip shoal, about three miles of the Monomoy Island—a spit of sand extending southwest from Cape Cod. This population of great white sharks migrate along the U....